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It was pretty late into the day. Joey was seated comfortably on top of his bed, listening as Xornoth told him about his attempts at teaching Sausage how to bake. If Joey was being perfectly honest, he was only half listening to what Xornoth was actually saying. Mostly, he was just admiring the way Xornoth's earrings were gleaming in the dusk light from the windows. He wondered for a moment if it made him a bad partner to not focus on everything his partner was saying. Then again, his friends certainly never always paid full attention to what he was saying. Like, the other day, when he'd been having a conversation with Shrub, and she'd had to cut him off halfway through because she realized something he'd said earlier that she'd missed was now relevant to what he was hearing.
"So, if you're interested, we can head there tomorrow and help out," Xornoth was saying. Joey was confused. Wasn't Xornoth just talking about trying to teach Sausage how to bake? Now he understood how Shrub had felt. It did not make him feel any better.
"I- uh-" Joey stammered, embarrassed to admit that he'd tuned out what Xornoth had been saying. If paying half-attention didn't make someone a bad partner, fully ignoring someone did.
Xornoth sighed, seeming to realize what Joey was implying. "I was asking if you wanted to go to the beach tomorrow to help fWhip and Sausage look for seashells." Joey was momentarily distracted by how beautiful Xornoth's eyes were, especially as the sun was setting. They practically seemed to glow as brilliantly as the stars, and they made the rest of their face look- No, no! He was getting distracted again! Xornoth had just asked him a question and he was not answering!
"Oh- ah, sure!" Joey exclaimed quickly, nodding. Was there a wrong speed in which one could nod their head? "Sure! Sure." Xornoth chuckled slightly, and Joey was about to get side-tracked again when he remembered something. "I thought you didn't like the water?" Joey recalled at one point when he'd asked Xornoth if it wanted to go swimming with him. Xornoth had replied with something about not really liking the ocean, some sort of fear or phobia it'd always had. What was the deal with phobias, anyway? Sure, Joey could understand some fears: Xornoth's fear of the ocean was perfectly reasonable in his eyes, seeing as there were a multitude of things that could happen to someone sailing across the ocean, for example. Like sharks. Did sharks attack boats?
"I don't..." Xornoth muttered, bringing Joey back from his thoughts before he could go any deeper. "But this doesn't involve me being in the water. I think."
"I'm sure you'll be fine!" Joey offered cheerfully. If he knew Xornoth (which he definitely did), then he knew that Xornoth was brave enough to deal with being near water.
"Anyway, so apparently this has something to do with certain seashells having magical properties, and since Gem's birthday is coming up..." Xornoth continued. Joey had been listening, trying to be fully attentive, when he spotted something on the ground near the bed. It looked like a dot. Why was there a-
The dot moved. It was not a dot. It was not a dot. It was a spider-
Joey shrieked loudly, startling Xornoth, and began to attempt to climb up their shoulders onto their head, away from the spider. His tail swished in Xornoth's face and his wings flailed. There was a spider! Of course, there were plenty of spiders to be found in the jungles of the Lost Empire. So theoretically Joey should be used to seeing spiders, and therefore not afraid. Theoretically. Unfortunately, theory was not always reality, and in reality, Joey was terrified.
"What the- Joey! What are you doing?" Xornoth asked, wobbling under the weight of Joey trying to stand on its shoulders and head. Joey realized his tail was still covering Xornoth's face and politely removed it.
"There's a spider!!!" Joey cried. He shrieked again as the spider moved a little. Joey carefully maneuvered himself so that he was now behind Xornoth, still hanging off his shoulders. He then dropped onto Xornoth's deer back, before sliding onto the bed, using Xornoth as a shield between him and the spider.
"Okay?" Xornoth said, sounding incredibly confused as to why Joey was over-reacting like this.
"There's a spider!" Joey repeated. Did Xornoth not understand? There was a spider, therefore they should be afraid! Was Xornoth simply not afraid of spiders? Joey ducked behind Xornoth as the spider began to move again, away from them.
"Joey," Xornoth said softly, turning to face him. "It's okay. The spider isn't going to hurt you. It's probably more afraid of you than you are of it." Unlikely, but the soothing tone Xornoth used was enough to calm Joey down somewhat. Joey peeked over Xornoth's deer body. The spider was gone. The spider was gone.
Joey shrieked again, and Xornoth winced. Right, he'd forgotten that Xornoth was sensitive to loud noises. Joey patted Xornoth lightly on the shoulders. "Sorry," He whispered. "It's just... the spider's gone now."
"Oh, good," Xornoth said.
"Good?" Joey asked, keeping his voice lower so as to not disturb Xornoth again. "This is not good, Xornoth! It could be anywhere! It could be-" Joey slammed his paws over his mouth, muffling a shriek as he felt something brush against his tail. It was only the blankets. Not a spider. Not the spider.
Xornoth sighed again, grabbing Joey and pulling him into a hug. It was also a little soothing, although the spider was definitely still out there. Joey allowed himself to relax into Xornoth's arms regardless. "It'll be fine, Joey," Xornoth reminded him. "It's just a spider. It can't hurt you."
Joey looked around the room worriedly. What if it was a venomous spider? What if it bit Xornoth and killed him? Then he reminded himself that that was silly, Xornoth was far more powerful than one measly spider. The thought was comforting, and Joey began to purr slightly, finally calm again. This calm only lasted for a moment before he spotted the spider again, right on the windowsill. Joey flinched, trying not to shriek again.
"Where is it?" Xornoth asked, seeming defeated in trying to get Joey to ignore it.
"By the window..." Joey mumbled. "Right on the windowsill..."
Xornoth set Joey down onto the bed, heading over to the window. They opened the window. The spider stood there for a second before heading out the window. Xornoth shut the window again.
"There," Xornoth told him. "You're safe now. The spider is gone." Joey felt relieved, sitting up and letting Xornoth reclaim its spot on the bed. Xornoth went back to talking about the seashells again, and Joey tried his best to actually listen this time, although mostly he was just content to not have a spider in the room anymore.