Chapter Text
Laughter flowed in the wind as a small herd had a picnic in the forest, their children, both human and centaur, ran wild and free in between the trees, playing and picking up flowers.
"Are you sure though?" The elktaur said. His shy demeanor was more than endearing.
"Yes I'm sure! Just, here- look!" You push open the improvised door to the secret base, a plethora of ragtag items is found inside, despite its… precarious… look, the base was sturdy and very much complete.
There's a small bedroom to the left, made from the leftover wood your parents got from the centaurs, there's another two rooms besides the living room and the bedroom, a library with a small workstation in a corner for him and a kitchen for you to make the pancakes the both of you love so much.
"It's…" His voice is lined with something, for just a moment you wonder if all the hard work that came into this house was for nothing, it was all for him after all. If he didn't like it, then what was the point of it?
"It's wonderful! And you built all of this? Rowan, I knew humans were capable of a lot but this is incredible!" There's a sky of wonder in his eyes, the sheer appreciation in his voice makes your cheeks warm.
"Aw- shucks. Thank you, but I don't think I deserve it… my dad helped… a lot" Your eyes fall to the healed scars that cover your arms and hands. If he only knew about the bandages you're hiding below your clothes you know for sure he would never ask for anything again.
You pull your sleeve down, it was a little too close to the bandages on your arm.
Still, his eyes fall to your hands, calloused and scarred hands no child should have so early in life.
"Was this the reason why you would use those gloves…? Rowan you-" He walked closer to you, the clopping of his hooves echoing in the not so furnished base.
You take a step back.
"I'm fine"
There's tears at the corner of his blue eyes, his arms frozen in the air, trying to reach you, too afraid and too sure that any touch would hurt.
"I promise you, I'm fine. I just- I wanted a place to be with you… without all the bullshit that always happens when we're together" You take one of his hands and pull him close, a tight hug that made you silence a pained whine. He doesn't seem to notice it, nonetheless the hug he returns is a soft one, still too convinced he'll further injure you. Your wounds are grateful for the softness but you want him to take confidence one of these days.
You love this dork, he's the bestest best friend you could've ever asked for and he's worth every single wound and every insult you get because of it. No matter what happens, there's nothing you would do to change anything about your life, even with all the pain that comes with what you and your parents chose, you wouldn't change a thing.
The two of you walk the house, heavy boots followed close by the sound of four hooves against wood.
The door remains open as he walks around, opening windows and exploring the secret base. You watch as his face morphs from wonder to gratitude and so much more.
"These… these are the books we saw on the market two months ago" He slowly takes one of them, inspecting the cover of it.
A smile creeps onto your face, pride burning in your chest.
He slowly turns to you, the book hugged tightly, an expression of awe and adoration that made you turn away from him. You didn't deserve that adoration, you just wanted somewhere to be with him, it was just a selfish wish that you went through with.
"Wait"
Here we go.
"How did you get these? I remember them being very expensive" He frowns, suspicion on his face as he already knows the answer, he's your friend after all, of course he knows.
"I uh-" You stall, looking around for anything to draw his attention to.
"Rowan" His voice turns stern, brow furrowing even more, you couldn't help but get lost in the beautiful blue of his eyes.
"...Rowan?" He hugs the books tighter, pink tinting his freckled cheeks.
"Ah- sorry!" Your hands shot up in apology before looking to the side, avoiding eye contact with the elktaur. "I might've… been… stealing the books from the market, for like, two or three months"
He gasps in horror.
"Rowan!"
You look back at him, somewhat ashamed of being caught.
"Don't Rowan me! They're human merchants, they're stinky rich, I don't think they will care about a couple of books" Trying to minimize it was your best bet, either way, it's not as if you were wrong.
"A couple-" He looks astonished at you, then sets the book back on the shelf and motions at it "There's well over a hundred books in here!"
"Actually, there's a hundred and seventy fou…r" As the real number slips out, his mouth falls agape.
"Rowan!"
You sigh as you know what's coming, you wish it was just an earful but you know better by now.
A high pitched voice starts singing about how bad it is to steal and the consequences of it, you groan through the song but can't help the smile creeping up on you as you see him dancing around you and the library.
You know what you did was bad but if the consequences are these then you wouldn't mind doing it again for him.
"So, what did we learn?" He asks in a parental voice.
"Stealing is baaad" You say sarcastically and thank whoever made the centaurs that they don't know what sarcasm is.
He smiles at you, making you feel like a dirty maggot under his shoe, you didn't deserve that smile.
"Alright, time to work!" He turns around, grabbing a cloth bag from the workstation and starts stuffing it with books.
"Alistair, what are you doing?" He then looks at you with an incredulous expression, as if the answer was clear as water.
"We're giving them back of course, stealing is bad Rowan" You jump him, grabbing the bag before he can react, the shock in his face hurts a little, but you're doing it for his own good.
"No. We're not doing that and that's final" He frowns and snatches the bag from your hands, putting it on top of his elk back so you can't reach it.
"We're better than thieves, we have to give them back"
Alistair is a bit taller than you, but that only made you more agile than him. You dash around him trying to reach the bag but he quickly back tracks until his elk half is pressed against a corner.
"We're giving them back and that's final" He crosses his arms and looks at you defiantly.
"Alistair, I know you're from centaurworld and you think everyone is nice and bubbly and kind. Humans are not centaurs, humans are not kind, they don't care if they have to hurt the weak to get what they want, if we try to give the books back they're gonna hurt us" Your best isn't enough to sway Alistair's resolve, and so you're dragged out of the secret base with twenty books in a bag.
The forest was lively and cheerful, unlike you.