Chapter Text
As the sun set over the horizon, the warm light filtered through Rocket’s bedroom window, falling on the two Inphernals that were curled up on the floor.
Sword stirred from his afternoon nap, sat up, stretched his wings and looked over at the still sleeping Rocket. The smaller Inphernal’s blue horns caught the light, adding a perfect softness to his sleeping form. Sword tilted his head slightly, examining him. He noticed that the Inphernal’s blue horns had grubby spots on them, old and uncleaned.
As he was looking, Rocket himself stirred. He blinked himself awake, rubbing one eye roughly. He sat up and scratched his arm stump.
“Hey there, Rocket,” Sword said softly. Rocket hummed gruffly in response. “How did you sleep?”
“Awful.” Rocket pulled his leg up to his chest and rested his arm on his knee. “You?”
“Alright-ish.” Sword had actually slept quite well, but felt bad after hearing that Rocket hadn’t. “Hey, when was the last time you cleaned your horns?”
“Hm?” Rocket thought for a moment. “Oh, you know it slips my mind… a while, I guess.”
Sword knew he had cleaned his own, far smaller horns quite recently. It was important to him.
“W… would you like me to do it for you?”
Rocket looked at him in surprise, suddenly more awake than he was previously. A touch of colour grew on his cheeks.
“U-uh. I mean, I guess. If- if you want to. I s’pose,” Rocket blurted out, scrambling for words.
“You sure?” Sword inquired. “You don't have to let me.”
Rocket shook his head. “No, it’s fine. Horn cleaner should be under the bathroom sink if you wanna go get it.”
“If you're sure.” Sword stood and made his way to the bathroom.
Opening the bathroom cabinet, Sword was overwhelmed by the untidiness of the shelves. A couple of empty deodorant bottles fell out when he opened the doors, and it was almost impossible to find the horn cleaner.
Almost.
Sword returned to Rocket’s bedroom, triumphantly holding the bottle of horn cleaner and a flannel. He helped Rocket onto the bed and sat down next to him.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Sword ensured. “I understand if you don't want someone else touching them.”
Rocket shook his head. “I trust you.”
Sword’s face flushed red slightly, and he attempted to hide it with his headwings as he sprayed horn cleaner onto the flannel.
Rocket flinched slightly when the flannel touched one horn, but didn’t pull away, so Sword got to work.
It took quite a bit of gentle scrubbing to get some of the muck off, but before long, Sword was moving onto Rocket’s smaller left horn.
Sword was just finishing the left side when he noticed Rocket was being awfully quiet. He put a gentle finger under the smaller Inphernal’s chin and turned his head to face him. His face was flushed.
“You alright?” Sword asked. Rocket’s face went even redder than it already was. He nodded quickly. Sword got up and switched sides in order to do Rocket’s right horns.
The light of the sky dimmed as the sun set further, until Sword was forced to turn a lamp on to see what he was doing.
“Finished!” Sword declared, setting aside the cleaner and flannel on the bedside table. “Feel better?”
“Huh?” Rocket mumbled. “Oh, yeah. Uh. Th-thanks…”
Sword smiled gently and studied Rocket’s horns, and, accidentally, his face. It took Rocket glancing at him with bright red cheeks for Sword to realise what he was doing and look away, blushing profusely.
“S-sorry…” Sword wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do now. A thought crossed his mind.
“C-can I… touch them…?” Sword asked in a voice that was barely a whisper. Rocket whipped his head around to look at the taller Inphernal, face growing in colour.
“You just cleaned them,” Rocket murmured, looking away.
“I-I meant- …yeah you’re right.” Sword drew his wings closer to his body.
“...you can touch them…” Rocket whispered. He turned his head back to face Sword and looked up at him. Sword swallowed quietly and reached out to touch Rocket’s horns, one hand each side.
As he rested his fingers gingerly on the hard horns, he felt Rocket shiver, face growing in redness. Sword pulled his hands away quickly. Rocket looked disappointed.
“N-no, it's okay!” Rocket told him. “It feels… nice…”
“O-oh. Okay.” Sword reached out carefully again with his left hand and wrapped his fingers gently around the horn. His other hand found its way to Rocket’s and they simply held one another’s hand for a long time.
Being careful not to overwhelm Rocket, Sword rubbed his thumb along the curve in the horn, feeling the smaller Inphernal tremble slightly.
Letting go of Rocket’s hand, Sword reached up and took tender hold of Rocket’s larger left horn. He ran his thumbs along the curve of both horns simultaneously, causing Rocket to suck in a sharp breath.
“That's enough.” Rocket reached his arm over both of Sword’s wrists and pulled them down. However, Sword’s hold on his horns was just firm enough that doing so pulled Rocket’s head down as well, leaving him in an awkward slumped position that basically had him in Sword’s lap.
Sword released his friend’s horns, letting out a soft chuckle. Rocket sat up quickly, blushing hard.
“Oh, you think this is funny?” Rocket huffed. Sword quickly composed himself.
“A little,” he admitted. Rocket sighed.
Sword laid down on the bed, head on a pillow, legs bent and propped up. He beckoned to Rocket, who was beginning to look tired.
“C’mere.” Sword moved his knees apart, patting his chest, signalling to Rocket to lay on top of him.
“What?” Rocket exclaimed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I can't lie on top of you…”
“Ah, come on,” Sword said, waving one hand dismissively. “You let me clean your horns. You trust me.”
Rocket hesitated.
“You're right…” he sighed, and he shuffled awkwardly over to Sword, laying stomach down with his head on his friend’s chest. His face was still red, and he tried to keep as still as possible, listening to Sword’s heart pound just under his ear.
Sword reached over and turned the lamp off, plunging the two into darkness. It was, however, a comfortable darkness, both of them knowing that the other was right there with them.
In the dark, Sword placed a gentle kiss on the top of Rocket’s head, before both of them drifted off to sleep.