Chapter Text
After many dark days, the Ant Kingdom finally allowed itself to break into the sunlight. For hundreds of years, the kingdom had been in a fierce cold war with the Wasps, who’s kingdom lie at the northernmost tip of Bugaria. However, all of that was finally beginning to change. After the incident with the Everlasting Sappling a few months ago, Queen Vanessa II rightfully took her throne once more, and the monarchs of each kingdom began to discuss the possibility of unity. All these months later, it had finally come to fruition, and Bugaria was beginning to be a peaceful realm once more, as it had when Elizant I had the throne.
During all this, there was Neo. Neo, or Professor Neolith, as he was professionally called, was a scientist under the Queen. He didn’t tend to go out in public all that much, finding the comfort of his own home and the Queen’s throne room to be more than enough interaction for him to handle. Of course, he had people he was rather fond of. Not a ton, mind you. He was a tad too shy to really get to know all that many people, but he had a bit of a soft spot for a group of ragtag bugs called Team Snakemouth. In a good stroke of luck, the trio would finally be returning from their escapades in the Far Grasslands today, right in time for the Ant Kingdom’s celebration.
Until then, however. Neo would continue to toil away in his little study, scribbling notes down onto paper, trying to clean up data, and just generally using up way more ink than he ever truly needed. As he worked, he noticed another bug slowly approaching his door. In response, he raised his head a bit and made eye contact.
“O-oh!! Hello. Ignore the mess, please. It’s been a few days since I’ve properly organized.” Neo mumbled, rubbing the back of his head a bit. He wasn’t actually expecting someone to come in, usually he wasn’t bothered by the various soldiers around the Ant Kingdom.
“Greetings, Neolith.” Said Maki, slowly walking his way into the professor’s study. “The Queen just returned. She wants to speak with you.” Neo simply nodded and began to gather up his papers, looking over at the mantis as he did so.
“Oh, uh… is that all?” Neo said, pausing his work for a second.
“You have no need to gather your things, Neolith. The Queen will be talking about the incoming celebration. Presenting your data can come tomorrow,” Maki stated, before slowly walking out of Neo’s chambers. The mantis could be stern sometimes, but he had a vibrant personality bubbling under the surface. Neo quietly set his papers back on his desk and began to walk through the halls of the Anthill Palace. Despite working under its roof for years, Neo often found himself getting hopelessly lost within it’s walls. This time, however, he seemed to make it to the central room without too much trouble. As he walked through the door to the throne room, he could already hear shouting.
“Come on Kabbu!!! We saved the kingdom twice!!! TWICE! I think we should at least get SOME sort of reward for that!” Shouted an all-too familiar voice, echoing down the hall. Neo laughed a bit as he walked into a fairly familiar scene. Vi, the spunky young bee, was getting scolded by Kabbu for the upteenth time. Nobody really batted an eye at it, anymore.
“Vi! We did what we did out of kindness! Not for a reward!!!” Kabbu shouted back. This only seemed to make the little bee angrier, however.
“Well, I think that you-” Vi started, before being cut off by the moth standing behind her.
“Hello, Neolith,” said the moth, his cold stare piercing into the moth’s very soul. Leif was strange, at least in Neo’s mind. He was rather quiet, that much was certain, and he often found himself interjecting into conversations at the most bizarre times. Still, he was funny when he wanted to be and had a lot of kindness in his heart, much like the rest of Team Snakemouth.
“Oh!!! Hello Leif!” Neo responded, giving a little wave. The Queen and Maki were busy talking, so he had some free time to kill.
“What’s up, Neo?” said Vi, finally catching onto the fact that she wasn’t going to change Kabbu’s mind this time. Kabbu himself turned around, and the professor almost immediately felt his face grow slightly pink, though for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why.
“H-hello everyone! How was the Wasp Kingdom?” Neo said, cheerfully looking over at the trio, trying to stifle his blush.
“Hot!!!” Vi said, getting rather annoyed. “I was there once!! I didn’t wanna go again!” Leif stared at Vi with one of his trademark blank expressions, before responding.
“We found it most interesting. It’s a gorgeous place when there’s no threat of being stabbed by Wasps.” Leif calmly stated. Neo could… never really tell if the guy was joking or not.
“Greetings, Neo! Hope you didn’t miss us too terribly while we were gone!” Kabbu said, giving a hearty little laugh. Neo joined in on the laughter, though he had no clue why. The joke wasn’t particularly funny. Even so, he had a tendency to laugh alongside Kabbu whenever he said it. It was genuine, too! Neo was just filled with weird emotions today.
“Eh, I kept myself busy.” He responded, giving a little smile.
“We did too, funnily enough.” Leif said back, staring at Neolith, causing both him and Kabbu to laugh. Once again, Neolith joined in.
“Oh, that reminds me, I’ve been examining that thing you brought back from the Lost Sands, and-” Neo stated, quickly getting down to business, before getting cut off. He let out a little sigh of relief upon being interrupted.
“Hello everyone.” The Queen stated. Neo instinctively bowed, before realizing that nobody else was. Man he felt dumb sometimes. “As I’m sure you know, the Wasps and the Ants have finally decided to form a peace treaty between us. This is truly excellent news for us all. As a way to honor this grand event, we shall be setting up a festival in the Plazza. Of course, all of you will be expected to attend…” As the Queen spoke, Neo continued to glance over at Kabbu. Not for particularly long amounts of time, mind you. But just enough to keep the image of him in his mind. If he looked often enough, it never really went away. He couldn’t particularly explain it. Ever since the two bugs first met in the Lost Sands, Kabbu had made him feel… different. Not a bad different, of course. But a different that Neo couldn’t quite define. It was as though his whole body began to float off the ground, bathed in the warmest, most brilliant sunlight the bug kingdom had ever known.
“Uh… Neo?” Leif said, pointing at the Queen. He’d been so busy staring he’d completely tuned her out! Dang it!
“Y-yes my Queen?! My apologies. My mind seems to have wandered.” He said, nervously adjusting his belt and looking across the hall at her.
“I figured you’d want to have a meeting with one of the Wasp Scientists who will be attending. The two of you could share some very interesting data.” She said. Neo quickly nodded and smiled as big as he can, trying to make it seem as though he was paying even the slightest bit of attention. He was normally attentive, he swore!!!
Just uh… not today.
“Of course, m-my queen! It would be an honor to speak to a researcher from the Wasp Kingdom. There’s still so much about that region we don’t know.” He said, giving a little bow. Thank god he was convincing. Elizant quietly nodded and proceeded to continue talking. After a few more minutes, she finished, and dismissed everyone until later that night.
“Dang, Neo! You were really spacing out there!” Vi said, giving her trademark little smirk.
“Yes. We found it rather amusing.” Leif said, looking at Neo as well. He was wearing the same blank expression as always, but his voice definitely sounded more jovial. Neo’s face was already beginning to heat up.
“Are you alright, Neo? It’s not like you to space out around the Queen.” Kabbu stated, putting his hand on the moth’s shoulder. This, of course, only caused his face to get even MORE red.
“O-o-oh, I-I’m fine. I suppose I uh… just uh… had too many Hustle Berries today. It’s been busy, you know!” Neolith said with a little cough at the end.
“Oh, of course! I forgot how frequently you ate them. Well, just make sure to pace yourself, alright?” Kabbu said, looking over at his team.
“I-I will!” Neo said, trying as hard as he possibly could to sink into his own neck fluff.
“Alright team. Let’s prepare for the festival!” Kabbu said, beginning to walk off with the rest of Team Snakemouth. Vi and Leif were already chattering among one another. Neo felt his body heating up again, that warm, beautiful light from before filling his entire body. Without even thinking, he sorta reached out towards Kabbu.
“U-uhh… hey Kabbu?” He said, panicking slightly as the beetle turned around.
“Yes? What is it, Neolith?” Kabbu responded, looking into the moth’s eyes. Kabbu had such lovely eyes, Neo was realzing. They were hidden a lot of the time, but-
“O-o-oh… uh… I was wondering… uh… if you… y’know… wanted to… uh… hang around… the festival… after I talk to that researcher? Totally fine if you don’t!!! It’s just… uh…” Neo stammered out. His stutter almost NEVER got this bad, unless he was particularly shy, or being mauled by beasts. Though it felt like the latter, he just assumed it was the former. Kabbu simply gave the moth a warm little smile in response.
“Of course! I’ll be waiting for your arrival outside the palace.” Kabbu said, before turning tail and walking off with Vi and Leif. As soon as Kabbu left, Neo just felt himself quietly fall into one of the nearby walls, shaking a little bit. He didn’t even particularly know what in Bugaria just happened. It wasn’t really a conscious choice… and yet, it still felt like the right choice. A million thoughts were swimming in his head, and he could do nothing but wince as he thought of the million different ways this could go wrong.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Maki give one of his rare smiles. Clearly the mantis knew something he didn’t.
What in the world had he gotten himself into?...