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It was a rainy day in New Home. Despite being underground, water would often seep through the roof of the city. When enough water had been collected within the city’s roof, it would slowly start to pitter-patter downward onto the settlement, acting as a replication of surface rain. The untrained eye was unable to tell the difference between the two, and Chara Dreemurr didn’t particularly study rain cycles, so they regarded the rain in the Underground the same way they’d regard the rain on the Surface. That is to say, calming.
However, what Chara did particularly study was the occasional short story. Though most wouldn’t call reading books in the library studying, Chara most certainly felt like they were learning whilst reading. Whether that learning was about the real world or the world of the story was unimportant to their overall enjoyment of their literary leisure.
In spite of the rain, Chara planned to visit the library today. They made sure to triple-check that they had brought an umbrella with them before leaving the castle in which they resided, instead of after. Attempting to journey through the large city without a rain-based utility item was sure to leave one soaked. In all honesty, being ill-prepared for a simple, predictable weather event was something they had always considered to be easily avoidable. They’d have surely regarded anyone who had neglected to bring any protection from the rain as simply idiotic.
Walking through the streets of the city, they took immense joy in the quiet that the rain brought. Most did not enjoy idling outside during the rain, leaving their own footsteps as the only sound for Chara to hear. That, and, of course, the rain.
Chara loved the rain more than they loved many other things. Sure, they loved architecture, drawing, computer games, particularly knitted green and yellow sweaters, but the rain? Standing at a crosswalk, waiting for it to turn green despite the lack of cars, they allowed themselves to be fully immersed in the calming sounds of the falling of the tranquil, soft droplets that the weather had brought today. It was as if a cascade of the beautiful, nay, a symphony of the beauteous had decided to sing final ballad after final ballad into the depths of their ear drums.
The stoplight turned green; they were only three medium-sized blocks away from the library now. Truthfully, the walk had given the best feelings of serenity Chara had felt in a while. They were fully at peace, their steps in pace with the unstoppable, irregular beats of the ground that they walked’s hydrotic heart.
A shiver went through them as a small droplet managed to breach their skin. Perhaps their left hand had wandered slightly too far from the cover of the umbrella. After all, it was quite small, the umbrella they had brought with them.
This was indeed an aspect of the rain that Chara did dislike. As much as they loved staying outside while raindrops fell, they found the feeling of droplet against skin to be quite displeasing. They lamented allowing themselves the misfortune of experiencing the feeling of wearing a drenched article of clothing, as well. How it would stick to their skin, its essence lingering far after the article had been vanquished from the epidermis of their skin. The smell of wet clothing was truly one of high misfortune, in addition to the slimy feeling the cloth itself often had.
Luckily, it had not been a requirement for them to deal with such. As long as they kept holding onto the umbrella tightly, and ensured their hands not stray far, being—for lack of a better word—drenched, was not a likely possibility.
Turning their head both ways before crossing the street once more, they noticed a figure in their peripheral vision. The figure was sitting under the awning of a small restaurant, looking into the sky. They had likely not known that it would rain, Chara regarded.
… Though, something about the figure did seem slightly intriguing. Chara had most certainly met someone of that stature before. The browns of their outfit did stand out as unique, and the hat on their head… The hat on their head?
Taking a left turn instead of continuing straight, Chara began to make their way toward the storefront. They stepped through a small puddle in the road as they walked. The figure seemed to be waving now. How unfortunate. For what reason would someone make such a big gesture simply to greet another, Chara knew not.
That type of annoyance was certainly not unexpected from Clover, the person under the awning. Clover had often participated in many an annoying activity. Hugs were one of the annoyances they seemed to enjoy partaking in most. Why Chara so often found themselves on the receiving ends of these hugs, they had no clue. Why they did not simply ask Clover to hug them not, they preferred not to think about; it gave them feelings they’d describe as ‘unfortunate.’
Their thoughts were then interrupted by the aforementioned greeting them as they reached the storefront. “Chara! Great seein’ ya’ here!”
Unfortunately for Clover, Chara had no interest in exchanging pleasantries at that moment. “What exactly made you believe being unprepared for the rain was a good idea?”
Clover’s hand reached to the back of their head. “I, well, y’see… I actually didn’t know it was gonna rain today.”
“Ah, of course. I’d expect nothing more from you,” Chara retorted. “How long have you even been here?” Despite asking the question, from knowing the cowpoke, they could already tell that they had likely waited outside for quite some time.
“Gosh… You wouldn’t kill me if I said that I’ve lost track of time, would ya’? Since before it started rainin’s the best estimate I’ve got.”
“You are kidding, no?” Though not truly being surprised, Chara found it enjoyable to feign confusion. One might call it ‘playing along.’ “It has been raining since before I woke up.” They added.
Clover’s smile widened, them having shown their teeth slightly before saying, “Well, that ain’t really sayin’ much knowin’ you. You prolly woke up twenty minutes ago!” Sadly, it seemed as if the cowpoke knew Chara far too well.
“Hm…” Chara thought for a short while, before conceding. “Touché. Though, I will say, it has actually been around fifty.”
“You really can’t stand bein’ wrong, can you?” An idiotic statement.
“I can. I, simply, was not.”
For a short while, neither of them shared any additional words. The sounds of the raining city overtook the two’s conversation, giving the both of them a short moment to think. Chara honestly believed it to be quite ridiculous that one ran the possibility of entering into this situation, though this ridiculousness did lessen at the prospect of Clover being the subject. It was not quite unlike the human, this predicament. They quite frequently neglected preparations for most things.
Clover appeared to, once more, idle in the same way they had prior to encountering the sweater wearer. They sat with their legs crossed, arms slightly behind their sides, palms flat on the ground, leaning against the door of the storefront which they had decided to occupy, with a gaze fixed far into the distance. In a word, they seemed to be elsewhere, mentally.
Clover seemed to always don looks similar to these when not in conversation — moments that were surprisingly more frequent than one might expect. It was quite the peaceful aspect of their character. Looks like these, coupled with the more serious attitudes and outlooks they’d taken since them and Chara had met, were always a nice change of pace. Especially when compared to the ‘upbeat,’ and ‘energetic’ personality they’d fake upon meeting someone new. Knowing the real Clover was rather pleasant. A small part of them even wanted to say knowing Clover at all was pleasant. Finding Clover’s presence ‘pleasant,’ in any way, was not something that they wished to linger on.
Clover was not expecting Chara to simply leave them sitting in the rain, were they? The cowpoke was already quite likely to get sick, having been sitting in the rain for so long. Despite not being one for ‘hanging out’ with the cowpoke, it would be remiss for Chara to simply allow them to infect themselves with some virus. Chara had already come to the conclusion that it, sadly, would be in the best interests of the both of them for Chara to escort Clover to the library. Some shelter would likely do the human good. Who knew, maybe they’d learn something if they stayed there long enough.
Chara promptly stuck out their hand towards Clover, as to help them up from their seated position. The gesture didn’t get Clover’s attention immediately, but as they did notice, they donned a confused sort of look. For what reason, Chara was not exactly sure, however, Clover beginning to speak gave them no room to think it further.
“Chara? Are ya’ waving goodbye?” They asked.
They could not be serious.
“You can not be serious.” At the accusation, Clover gave a confused look. “Take my hand so we can leave.” Chara took a slightly firm tone.
Clover started to smile, “Leave? Where ‘re we leavin’ to?” sitting up higher whilst they spoke. They were not taking this as a joke, no? That would be annoying of them, though not unexpected.
Answering to the cowpoke’s likely faux confusion, they replied, “The library. I have books to read, and you are taking up far too much of my time.”
“Oh!” Strangely, Clover put their hands in front of them, as if to defend themselves. “Listen, I’m flattered you’re askin’, but I can’t walk through the rain. I’d probably end up with a cold, and I hate getting wet.” They were being facetious.
Chara nearly glared at Clover. “You are being facetious.”
By that time, it would have been quite difficult not to see Clover grinning. “How so?”
Chara paused before speaking, as if to punctuate their next words. “Clover. I have an umbrella.”
“Oh really??” Clover spoke with a tone exaggerated in such a way that, one would find it strenuously difficult to take them seriously. Even more so than it would be, otherwise.
“You knew this, did you not?”
“I had no clue!” A lie.
Finally, Clover took Chara’s hand, abandoning their position of false confusion. Hoisting themselves up, they took one final look distance-ward before idling at Chara’s side.
The amount of thoughts that near immediately flooded Chara’s mind were most certainly causes for embarrassment. The proximity Clover had taken was nothing short of overwhelming. In an instant, it felt as if Chara could not focus on anything other than the temperatures radiating onto their skin if they tried. Nay, Chara could not focus on anything other than Clover. They felt the rough leather of their clothes against their skin more than they had believed to have felt anything ever before. It was as if all the world’s energy had been concentrated into these points of contact. Single, microscopic moments of touch between the two could send Chara screaming into the depths of their mind. In fact, they did; for, every microscopic moment of touch made the Dreemurr, more and more, want to feel themselves melt into the other. So badly, so incredibly badly, they wanted to feel the other in their entirety. They quickly, grew to hunger more. They felt themselves need for more, nay, yearn for more. Their memories began to recount every single small brush of skin the two had ever shared, and by The Angel, did they recount those memories to the fullest. Every shoulder tapping, every hand holding, every instant of hugging, the one kiss they’d shared and swore to never tell anyone of; these recountments of anecdotes did nothing more than bolster their selfish desire. If they’d had half a brain, they would’ve likely already been leaning into the pretty face Clover had been blessed with.
Then, they caught themselves.
And, slowly, they regained their calm. They focused on their breathing for some short moments, before reminding themselves of two things. One, the lunacy of these wants; and two, the absolute necessity to forget. So, without chastising themselves, they disregarded those thoughts. They had a library to get to.
And so, of course, Chara began to take steps forward, Clover quickly following behind. Directly behind, a lesser them might’ve added. They stepped entirely away from the tiny set of stairs that led to the restaurant’s awning, they walked back onto the crosswalk, trudging through the puddle once more, and, in due time, were right back where they stood before adventuring to rescue the cowpoke from their stranded, precipitation-apparatus-less restaurant awning of doom.
And, from that spot, they continued onward. The library was, still, only a short three-block walk away. Likely not so easy for the athletically inept individual to Chara’s right hither; however, they themselves were very capable of fulfilling the task.
Well, in truth, it would be remiss for Chara to claim they had not been struggling with the walk. Chara had never been one for activities such as ‘leaving their house,’ or ‘speaking with real and living beings,’ and, in turn, this seemingly short walk had, in actuality, been rather taxing on them. They felt slightly short of breath, walking at a slight incline. A part of them might have believed the shortness of breath to have come from the highly pronounced presence of one ‘Clover,’ however, this belief would be unable to find itself in existence for any non-negligible amount of time.
Really, Clover had been the athletic one, of the two. It seemed as if they could not go any longer than a day without participating in some activity. One day they’d simply opt for visiting a store and making some small purchase; the next they’d find themselves in a large-scale altercation, and somehow end up becoming the victor. Despite their recent personality regularizations, if you could call Clover regular, they had never become more docile; these strange happenings remained rather unwavering. In a word, they were always outside, likely finding some ‘fun’ way to hurt themselves. Likewise, they’d often gain random scratches and bruises upon their skin.
Taking the time to think on it, it seemed as if Clover gained injuries quicker than previous ones stopped hurting. Of course, the injuries were never major, not to Clover, at least. Likely, a small mark on their skin would bubble up, and fade within a few days. But, that never stopped Chara from noticing. Embarrassingly, it was rather hard for Chara not to analyze Clover’s skin when they had the chance. Now, of course, they were simply making sure any injuries the cowpoke might’ve sustained weren’t becoming severe, yet, this truth most certainly was not known to the metaphorical butterflies that had willed their way into the sweater-wearer’s stomach. … Goodness, maybe it hadn’t been known to their brain either. Truly, it was rather… difficult for them not to notice the texture of Clover’s skin. The firmly soft, chillingly warm, almost hypnotic sensation Chara received by way of them was certainly not lost on any part of their cerebrum. The moment especially lent itself to this line of thinking–
Chara’s thoughts halted instantly at the feeling of Clover’s skin against theirs. They nearly began to pontificate on the sensation, before registering the car that sped across the street that stood directly in front of them. Quickly, they began to realize that they were right before another crosswalk, marking the end of the city block, and that Clover was attempting to stop them from walking into the vehicle. How wonderful.
Admittedly, the slight startle they felt was just enough for them to have been knocked away from their previous line of thought. Chara quickly and decisively chose to ignore how quickly Clover’s friendly handhold had turned into one of interlocked fingers. They chose to ignore the near-burning sensation between the two’s interlocked hands. They chose to ignore the softness they could so easily feel when rubbing their thumb at the back of Clover’s hand. They chose to ignore the adorably awkward expression Clover had on their face. They chose to ignore their subconscious screaming, begging for even more contact. For, these thoughts were useless ones.
Clover turned to face Chara, and, though the sweater-wearer’s heart did skip a beat or four as it had believed a certain impossible scenario to finally be occurring, it quickly calmed down as Clover sheepishly said, “You always harp on about how I’ve gotta be safe. Look at you now!” Their attempt at joking despite the clear amounts of worry on their face was very cute. Actually, it was not. “Walkin’ in ta’ open roads? Who are you, n’ what have you done ‘a my Chara?” The cowpoke added, in a more jovial tone. They were likely attempting to lighten the mood more for themselves than for Chara.
Chara had stood in place for some time longer, not responding to Clover’s playful jokes. They were trying their hardest not to think of how much they’d wanted the cowpoke in their arms at the moment, as the thought would be detrimental to the mission of reading stories at the library; they wouldn’t be able to forget something like that fast enough. So, instead, they allowed themselves to stay put while they removed all the ‘unnecessary’ thoughts about Clover they had been having over the last ten minutes.
And, in short time, Clover spoke again. “… We can keep walkin’ now. Though, I.. do think it’d be a bit safer if y’kept your hand where it is.” Chara’s thoughts had all but been vanquished by the moment, and, following Clover’s coax, the pair continued to walk. Past the crosswalk and onto the sidewalk of the next block they went, as the surrounding raindrops seemed to fall even heavier.
The rest of the journey went smoothly. The two walked at a regular pace (a first for Clover), stopped at crosswalks, and stayed within the bounds of Chara’s umbrella. Now, of course, the sweater-wearer couldn’t truly get the thoughts of the two’s closeness out of their mind; it was a Sisyphean task. And, of course, the thoughts only amplified as Clover highly unsubtly inched closer to them at every opportunity that presented itself.
Regardless, Chara still managed to find themselves quite at peace. They concluded that the falling water droplets helped to put their mind at ease, as it had been what they decided to focus on for the remaining two blocks. Though, it would be false for them to claim that the physical contact was unhelpful. Truthfully, it was quite the opposite. Still, the song and dance of the weather was what they credited for their tranquility.