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hqmillioncorn · 1 month

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Greet the dawn with me!

"UM okay so me, pancake and cinnamon were having dinner when babycorn knocked on the door to our room?? Hey hair was down by the way . She asked if she and cherrypit could sleep in our room for tonight? I said yes faster than i could feel nervous about it. Babycorn told me thanks and told me she would be right back with cherry and airy. Then i turned around and pancake and cinnamon were both giving me thumbs ups. Pancake went to go get some of the expensive extra snacks out so we could eat them . and i am now very nervous waiting for babycorn to come back im hiding under the covers writing in my diary."

Lalapril 4/28 with @windupnamazu's Butter, Pancake and Cinnamon

babycorn cant sleep and decides to go out for a nice walk :) then to visit someone! its a busy night

Tomorrow was the day.

The day she was going to meet with Hildibrand once again. Because of course he needed her help! And of course she was going to help him! She would do anything for him cause Hildibrand was so cool and smart and amaaaaazing!

Then one day soon Hildibrand would finally propose to her and they would get married and live happily ever after! Forever and ever!

…Or at least that’s what Babycorn used to dream of happening.

After the whole ‘Mandervillian’ thing she was having a few second thoughts about the whole thing. On the day they all learned about it, Babycorn was frozen to her chair for about an hour or two. Then she was frozen staring out of a window.

Some of it might had been because of the concussion she received earlier but most of it was the shock of the whole thing.

It sort of opened her eyes about her feelings. Did she really want to marry Hildibrand? Something about learning he was a terrifying alien had caused her feelings to immediately stagnate. Not that Babycorn was an expert in love or anything but it just didn’t feel right.

She knew what falling in love felt like. Right?

This whole conundrum was weighing on Babycorn’s mind just enough to keep her awake at night. Staring up at the ceiling wasn’t doing anything to help her either. Though it was fun occasionally seeing Cherrypit run back and forth, screaming his head off about something.

No matter what was bothering her, at least she could be happy that Cherrypit was safe. It was far nicer to be worried about issues of love than not knowing if her brother was going to be okay.

“Get back here little man!” A very angry Airy flew by with paint drawn all over her face. It seemed like a certain someone decided to a napping Airy’s face as a free canvas to practice his artistic skills on. “I’m going to make you pay for what you’ve done!!” For Airy, making someone pay usually meant trying her hardest to hit you.

Sadly her little cookie fairy fists could only hit someone so hard. Which is to say, not hard at all.

Babycorn watched as Cherrypit and Airy went back and forth, over and over. Despite that she had told them earlier it was bedtime and they needed to get some sleep for tomorrow they were still very much awake. Old habits die hard, she supposed.

As noisy as they were, Babycorn was glad for it. She had spent far too many quiet nights by herself by now.

Babycorn sighed, turning over in her bed again for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

This time Cherrypit noticed the long sigh his sister had made. “Bebe?” He jumped right over a flabbergasted Airy by bouncing off her head. A handy trick he learned the last time they had helped Hildibrand out. “OW?!” Airy, hunched over, looked back to see Cherrypit crawling onto Babycorn’s bed as he lightly began to pat her shoulder to get her attention.

“Bebe! Bebe!” Cherrypit laid his head down on Babycorn’s arm. “Bebe okay?”

Babycorn couldn’t help but laugh a little. She sat up and grabbed Cherrypit in a hug. “I’m fine! Don’t worry! Just having a little bit of trouble getting to sleep.”

“Sleep? How you gonna sleep?” Cherrypit asked. He reached a claw over to one of the bed’s pillows and started to chew on it.

“I wish I knew.”

At this point Airy had enough of being ignored. She flew her marker-covered face over to where both siblings were sitting and flew above them. “So you can’t sleep hmm…” A little bit of her magic dust was falling on both siblings. Sadly for Babycorn the dust had no instant sleeping properties to them.

Though it did make Cherrypit do a cute little sneeze. Babycorn grabbed part of her blanket and wiped Cherrypit’s nose with it.

“What if I hit you over the head with a really big stick?!” Airy asked while mimicking the movement of her hitting Babycorn over the head with something. It looked like she was enjoying the hypothetical act of doing that a little too much.

Babycorn grabbed Cherrypit and scooted away from where Airy was floating. “No thank you!!” One concussion a year was good enough for her. That being said, her record was currently ten a year but that still didn’t mean she would let Airy attack her with a huge stick.

“Well that’s all I got.” Airy shrugged and flew off somewhere to presumably clean her face.

Which left Babycorn and Cherrypit by themselves to figure things out.

Babycorn watched as her brother babbled a bunch of baby talk to himself. Something about how he was gonna bite a big piece of bread tomorrow? It sounded yummy. Babycorn wondered if there was bread for him to share with her.

While Cherrypit talked away into the night, she turned her head to see if she could see outside the window.

It was dark out and a small part of her was expecting the face of a ghost to press itself up against the window. It just felt like her luck was bad enough for something like that to happen.

“Brr…” Babycorn shivered.

Cherrypit grabbed the blanket Babycorn used before and threw it on Babycorn. “No more cold!” He assured her. Babycorn moved the blanket to where it was just covering her head. “Thanks Cherry!” Not that she was actually cold but it was still nice.

Cherrypit smiled back at her and crawled right off the bed. The toys he was playing with before on the floor had caught his eye again. From the looks of it he wasn’t going to be tired anytime soon. Which left Babycorn with more time to see if she could somehow force herself to sleep.

Then, Babycorn’s attention fell to the door.

As soon as it did she bounced off the bed, put on her pair of slippers and adjusted her pajamas. At the same time Airy happened to reappear, now with a much cleaner face free of swirls and stars. “What are you doing now?” She was still wiping her face dry with a towel.

Babycorn walked closer to the door and opened it. “I’m going outside for a little bit!”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Airy asked, “Won’t it be bad if you and Cherry get separated or something?”

Babycorn shook her head. “Nah. That doesn’t happen anymore! Rember’?” While it wasn’t entirely true that there weren’t any side effects to getting too far away from Cherrypit, it was true that Cherrypit didn’t drop dead and take over her body anymore. Thankfully. “Besides–I’m not going anywhere too far! Just getting some air!”

Airy couldn't help but wonder if that phrase was something that Babycorn heard someone say once. That would make sense, she just knew that if Babycorn hadn’t she would think it meant flying off or whatever. “Don’t you at least wanna take Cherry with you?”

Babycorn looked down at her brother. He was still busy playing with his toys. Re-enacting what looked like a pretty dramatic scenario featuring two people slap fighting on top of a giant cannon. “It’s okay! Besides, it looks like he’s having fun playing.” She would hate to interrupt whatever story he was telling. “I’ll be back really soon I promise!”

Airy knew that if Tilika were here she would probably try her hardest to convince Babycorn not to go roaming outside in Radz-at-Han by herself. Tilika practically drilled it in all of their head's that Babycorn needed to be accompanied by someone at all times while they stayed here.

Which Airy thought was ridiculous but agreeing got Tilika to shut up so she just said Sure.

It wasn’t often that the perfect opportunity presented itself. What better way to start a reign of evil than breaking a few rules? Cause that was totally what Airy was still after! Uh-huh! Yup! Yup! “Alright! Take all the time you need!” Airy cheerfully sang, waving her goodbye.

It caught Babycorn a little off guard. “O-Okay!” Babycorn opened the door and stepped outside. “Keep Airy safe! Okay Cherry?”

Cherrypit gave her a little salute as Babycorn closed the door behind her and walked away.

It was a little cold outside.

Or at least colder than Babycorn had expected. As she climbed up the steps of Paksa's path she looked up at the sky above her. It was pretty cloudy. Looking at the clouds moving made her feel kind of dizzy.

Eventually she made it to the top. The dodos that were usually running around were gone, probably sleeping in their really comfy dodo beds. Which was a shame. Babycorn had really wanted to wave hello. “Goodnight…!” Babycorn whispered in the direction she hoped the dodos would be. With any luck they heard her and wished her a goodnight too, even though she couldn’t hear them either.

It was a little quiet. Which was nice, but it made Babycorn sort of curious.

Normally it was rare for her to have a chance to walk around her without at least one person beside her. Usually that person was Tilika and she always made sure they never spent more time outside than they needed to.

Now here she was–walking around Radz-at-Han at night all by herself.

At first Babycorn didn’t mind it, since it was always nice to have someone around. But lately, she was starting to get a little worried. Was there something she didn’t know? Of course there was. Babycorn hadn’t wanted to ever think about it but every time she visited there was always a feeling in the back of her mind that there was something missing.

Something that she should know, but just didn’t.

Babycorn sat down on the grass, taking a fistful of it and sticking it in her mouth. As she chewed she stared straight ahead and tried to reach towards the part in her memories that she could feel was cut off. But no matter how close she thought she was to reaching what she thought she was missing, she always came up short.

…That was weird. Usually by now Babycorn would be having some sort of piercing headachOh there it was!! Right on time!!

Babycorn gripped the sides of her head and held in a cry of discomfort. Fearing that if anyone heard her out here they would tattle on her and she would get in big trouble.

Then just like that. It was all gone.

Babycorn looked around, there were no people around. She looked down, her cozy pajama pants were stained green alongside her hands. There was a big patch of dirt where she had taken her midnight snack from. The grass needed more salt.

None of this was helping her feel any sleepier than before. It just created more worrying thoughts in her head! What was she worried about? Why couldn't her head just decide?!

Babycorn stumbled to her feet. She was still a little out of it. The missing parts of her memories were busy trying to fill themselves out. In her stupor Babycorn’s instincts managed to take over, as her body decided to run towards the direction of someone she knew could help with her with whatever problem she had.

Then before she knew it, she was already knocking on their door.

The thought she was knocking on the wrong person’s door never even crossed her mind. It should be noted that Babycorn was not very smart.

It should also be noted that this was not the first time something like this had happened.

Somewhere in Radz-at-Han Butter, Pancake and Cinnamon were busy having their own interesting night.

Pancake and Cinnamon were very busy testing out the local cuisine by ordering as many different drinks as they could and rating them on a scale of one to ten. As their entire budget was being covered they went ahead and ordered to their heart's content.

Surely Lunya Lanya herself would be very proud of them.

Butter, meanwhile, was busy writing in his diary.

In a way he was in the same boat as Babycorn. He was restless about tomorrow. So much so that he couldn’t stop thinking about it. On the other hand his reason was a bit different than why Babycorn couldn’t get herself to sleep.

He couldn’t help but think about what if tomorrow was the day Hildibrand finally opened his eyes and realized that Babycorn was in love with him. Then he would sweep Babycorn off her feet and they would ride off into the sunset.

Would Butter be happy for Babycorn? Yeah, of course.

And would Butter wish a thousand deaths upon Hildibrand at the same time? Well no duh.

The same sort of worries had spiraled around his head the last time they all went to help Hildibrand. His biggest fear was that if he didn’t tell Babycorn his true feelings before it was too late, then he would never get the chance to.

Butter groaned and let his head fall flat onto his diary. “I love Babycorn…” He mumbled to himself. With his face buried in his book however, it came out very muffled and no one could possibly understand what he had said.

No one, except maybe his dear sister. “Does that mean you’re finally gonna ask her out tomorrow?” Pancake chimed in.

Butter lifted his head up ever so slightly and gently pushed Pancake away.

Pancake crossed her arms and leaned herself against the wall. “Come on Butter! Time's-a-ticking and I’m not getting any younger!!”

“What does your age have to do with anything???”

“Everything! Cause I’m gonna die of old age before you tell Babycorn anything!!”

Before their conversation could continue, a knock at the door interrupted them. “I got it!!” Pancake yelled, running to get it. No one was exactly racing her to get it but the important thing is that she won either way. When Pancake opened the door she saw–nothing. “Huh?” Then she looked down and saw Babycorn! Her pants were stained green and she looked a little tired.

“Hi Pancake! Sorry if I woke you guys up! I was just wondering if I could ask about something?” Babycorn nervously smiled, rocking back and forth.

Pancake was going to answer in a completely normal way but stopped herself. She smirked, a plan brewing in her head. “Oh yeah no problem!” She turned back and cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, “BUTTER!!! YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS AT THE DOOR!!!!!!!!!!”

She hummed to herself as she heard the telltale signs of Butter scrambling himself off the bed and running towards her. “I’ll let you two talk it out!” Pancake happily bounced herself off the door and back into the room just in time for Butter to reach her.

“Hey Butts!” Babycorn smiled. Like usual she didn’t notice the nervous smile on Butter’s face.

“H-Hey Babycorn!!” Butter honestly didn’t know where to start. A million thoughts were zipping around his head at once. It was probably better to clear up any misconceptions before anything. “D-Don’t listen to Pancake! I didn’t call you my girlfriend! I-I mean not that I wouldn’t want to-! I mean who said that?! I’m just-”

Thankfully for Butter, Babycorn interrupted him before he could say anything else that would turn his face even redder than it already was. “But I’m a girl!”

Butter looked at her, blinking just a little too fast. “Y-Yeah!”

“And I’m your friend…?” Babycorn’s eyes began to water. “R-Right…?!”

“Of course! Of course you are!!”

“Then I’m your girl friend!!”

Butter decided to give up. Not only because this type of talk had already happened countless times before but also because the way Babycorn was smiling at him was so cute he was feeling his knees turn to jelly in real time. “So? What did y-you wanna ask us?” Butter struggled to ask.

For a few seconds Butter regretted asking, because as soon as he did, Babycorn’s smile disappeared. “I was just wondering if…” She tapped her fingers together nervously, looking away. “Could me and Cherry and Airy sleep with you guys tonight? If it’s not a lot of trouble?”

“Yeah! It’s no trouble!” Butter immediately answered. Even Pancake and Cinnamon were caught off guard by how quickly he answered and they weren’t the only ones.

“Huh? Really?” Babycorn was a little surprised. She had planned out a whole explanation in her head and everything. It would be a waste not to explain herself, if only just a little bit. “It’s just…I’ve been having trouble sleeping and I just thought maybe it would be easier to sleep if I…” Babycorn trailed off.

“If you were?” Butter asked.

“...If I felt safe. You know?”

That’s not to say Babycorn didn’t feel safe around Cherrypit or Airy, but if anything happened to her she wanted to make sure someone else could protect them if she couldn’t. “I just feel safe when I’m around you Butts!” She smiled, holding her hands together.

Butter couldn’t blush any harder. “I-I’m glad-!” Because there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you, he wanted to say. In the end, he ultimately just let Babycorn know she could come over anytime she wanted to. “We’ll be here all night! We’re not going anywhere!” He assured her.

“Great!” Babycorn turned and began her run back to her room but not before turning back one more time and shouting back, “Don’t worry I’ll bring all the blankets and pillows we need! And me and Cherry can sleep on the floor! Airy brings her own bed!” With that out of the way Babycorn ran off again.

Butter waved at her until she was out of view. A lovestruck smile on his face.

True to her word Babycorn had arrived with almost a mountain of blankets and pillows balanced on her head and some of them on Cherrypit’s head too. Airy was dragging a small doll bed behind her.

Judging from the scowl on her face she was much less happier about this arrangement than Babycorn and Cherrypit were.

Her attitude took a turn for the positive when it turned out that Cinnamon had some extra sweets to share with her sister as they gossiped all about Babycorn and Butter respectively.

Cinnamon had a lot of the usual to say but Airy had some new juicy gossip of her own…

Meanwhile both Starsinger siblings had easily inserted themselves into Pancake’s drink judgment bracket. There were plenty of smoothies to go around and even then she could just order some more from the allowance Tsuna gave her earlier. Butter had joined in too, deciding right off the bat that the first pineapple smoothie he tried was the best.

It had felt a lot like this had turned into an impromptu sleepover rather than a way to help Babycorn get to sleep.

Though as the night went on–the more tired everyone began to get.

Cherrypit was the first to fall asleep. Wrapped in Babycorn’s arms in the middle of a triple triad match between Babycorn and Butter. Which Butter ended up winning by default because Babycorn had ended up eating half of one of her cards by accident.

Next was Pancake, who swore up and down the room that she was only going to close her eyes for a minute or two as she got comfy on her bed. Even as she was talking Butter was shaking his head, knowing his sister much too well. He ended up being right. As soon as Pancake’s head hit the pillow she was out like a light.

That left just Babycorn and Butter awake. Alongside their fairy companions.

Both of them decided to go ahead and start setting up the numerous blankets that Babycorn brought with her. There were so many of them that piling them up was just as good as bringing a whole other bed into the room.

Or at least, to Babycorn it did. “Come on Cherry…” Babycorn whispered, gently picking her brother up and carrying him onto their makeshift bed.

After she covered him in a warm blanket she took a seat on the floor, letting out a sigh. She was more tired now, that was true, but there was still some worry left in her about tomorrow.

Babycorn looked over to see what Butter was doing. He had just finished checking up on Pancake and had gone over to his own bed. Weirdly enough Babycorn noticed him looking at her then he would look surprised and look away really fast. She poked her own nose. Did she have something on her face again?

Eventually Butter got off his bed and walked over to the window, a book in his hands. Butter took the book and slipped it under some extra pillows. He was really hoping no one would notice what he was doing. Especially not Babycorn.

“What are ya doing Butts?” Babycorn just happened to ask. She was standing up on her tippy-toes to see if she could get a better view of what he was doing.

In a panic, Butter was caught entirely off guard. “Just hiding my diary!” WHY DID I SAY THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Oh! Cool!” She had no idea what a diary was.

Butter hid his diary as fast as he could and rushed back as fast as he could. But before he could even get close enough to hide under the covers–Babycorn called out to him.

“Hey Butter? Can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah!” Butter answered, turning to look at her. “What’s up?

Babycorn took a deep breath. She sat down on the floor, clutching a pillow tightly. “Do you think Hildibrand loves me?”

Butter froze. For a second he even stopped breathing completely. He turned around to look at Babycorn. His eyes met hers. It was like staring into a warm summer day, he couldn’t help but be drawn in. Butter walked up to Babycorn and knelt down in front of her. As much as he didn’t want to think about Hildibrand he knew there was only one answer to the question.

“I think…” Butter struggled to speak. “I think he would be crazy not to be in love with you.”

Babycorn was stunned. “Do you really think so?!”

“Y-Yeah!!” Butter smiled, gritting his teeth. “No. Doubt. About. It.”

“I see…” She noticed that Butter looked really happy to be telling her that. Of course he would be, he was like one of her bestie best friends. Just all her other friends! Because of that she didn’t have the heart to tell him how she really felt.

If Hildibrand proposed to her tomorrow, well, she had no idea how she was going to react.

“Hey Butts? You’re coming to help tomorrow right?”

As much as Butter wished that he didn’t have to go through another whole day or more of seeing Babycorn making googly eyes at Hildibrand, of course he was going to help. “I wouldn’t miss it for anything! Ahahaha…”

That was a relief! “I’m glad you’re coming with!” It just wouldn’t be as fun without Butter and everyone else around! As long as he was around then maybe Babycorn wouldn’t have to spend another four hours sitting on a chair scared out of her mind about aliens.

Why, oh why, was marriage and love just so complicated? She bemoaned.

Why couldn’t everything be as easy as eating worms from the wet ground?

As dawn broke through, Cinnamon and Airy giggled quietly to themselves.

Airy poked her head out from behind a fort of blankets they had created to hide themselves behind just in case anyone woke up and interrupted their secret plan. “I literally can’t believe this.” A part of her wanted to just fly in and kick them awake but Cinnamon managed to convince her to hold back the violence. Using nothing but a delicious cookie,

The (self-proclaimed) more artistic of the sisters was furiously drawing as fast as she could. “Have they moved at all yet?” Cinnamon cried out.

“Nope. Still the same as last BAJILLION times you asked.”

“Okay! Good!” Cinnamon continued to draw as fast as she could. “Just a little bit more…!” As soon as she was finished with it she would go ahead and place it inside of Butter’s diary, right on the newest page so it could be the first thing he would see when he opened it back up.

She had to be quick, because any second now either Babycorn or Butter would wake up and ruin her reference. It was hard for her to draw any faster. Small as she was, drawing for her meant almost carrying a pencil across a page.

But it would all be worth it when she finished.

Cinnamon needed Butter to know that they had fallen asleep sitting next to each other. Babycorn resting her head on his shoulder and holding their hands together.

A smile on their faces.

#lalapril #lalapril 2024 #Babycorn #Cherrypit #Airy #Butter #Pancake #Cinnamon #buttercorn #phew #this was the last one i wrote for this year and its the one that made me the most nervous #anyway i think babycorn keeps these feelings all the way to dawntrail hildibrand quests #she doesnt get to hear theyre not actual aliens and nobody tells her opps #babycorns scared of aliens but shes got some dragon in her and shes gonna find that out next expansion probably and stare out a window agai #anyway i love buttercorn i hate them #i love using butters diary as future writing prompts i ll probably do it again

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fuckin-sick-bih · 1 year

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omfg after episode 3 if ur down for it I’d love to see a fic where frank hosts a garden party but joels sick, tess is worried/annoyed joel said nothing and bill is cranky as per but surprisingly helpful?? only if ur down for it!! im so in love with the idea of those 4 as a friend group ugh

I'm very down for it! I feel like Frank is the mom of the friend group for some reason? lmao Fandom: The Last of Us Summary: Joel doesn't like to let on that he's sick, and doesn't want to bother anyone with it. He doesn't need to be taken care of because he's the one who takes care of others. CW: Another similar to the show sorta Joel/Tess Word Count: 1.2k MINORS DNI

“Been hearing a lot of ’70s lately, Joel. This could be good. Real good. We could get some real trades and stuff to sell this time around.” Tess said enthusiastically as she kept a brisk pace along their usual route to Bill and Frank’s. Her thumbs were hooked behind the straps of her pack and Joel thought there was almost a spring in her step as they took the familiar trek.

A soft grunt of acknowledgment was all that left him as Joel lagged behind, almost using it as a way to clear his throat of some of the irritation there. More than his usual exhaustion tugged at him. He’d woken up that morning feeling like he’d choked on sandpaper all night and with his sinuses trying to make breathing as difficult as possible. He was constantly having to wipe his nose on the back of his hand and sniff, claiming this morning it was the fall allergies he sometimes suffered.

Dirt and gravel crunched under his boots as he continued to stumble along the trail, feeling worse for ware as the compound of Bill and Frank’s came into view. Once again, Joel swiped a knuckle roughly under his slowly reddening and damp nostrils only for it to spark a tickle just like it had this morning. “Teh-eh… Tess- heh-!”

The desperation was obvious, like a plea for her to wait for him, but Tess continued on ahead to the gate while Joel lagged behind to struggle with his nose. Without a second thought, Joel pinched his nose shut with his pointer finger and thumb to almost completely muffle the sound. “NgH’Tsh! Ugh… snf! “

He swiped his damp fingers on his dusty jeans and continued on to meet Tess at the gate. His head felt heavy with congestion and he hung back a little, letting Tess do the talking as per usual so as not to let on just how exactly he was fairing. But there was the feeling of eyes on him as they went to sit down at the table as per usual.

It had been a year since Bill stopped bringing guns to the table every time they sat down but he was still tense every time. Now it seemed even more so but Joel pointedly avoided his gaze and the food this time around. A little unusual for them given they came from the QZ where food was distributed through rations which often began to restrict in the fall to prepare for the winter months. Joel just couldn’t bring himself to swallow much.

“Joel?” Tess said softly, looking over at him with concern. Now all eyes seemed to be on him. Christ, that was the last thing he needed right now.

Frank’s brows were furrowed in an almost motherly type of concern as he suddenly reached out to Joel with a hand to which both Tess and Bill shouted a warning of “no, don’t!”

Like a reflex, Joel caught Frank by the arm before he could touch him. He cleared his throat softly, wincing a little at how it stung painfully before sniffling. “D’dot a good idea, Fradk.” And then let go of him.

“Oh, Joel…” Frank said softly as the three finally heard the painful, congested rasp that was now Joel’s voice. “You sound like you could use some tea instead of wine. I think I have some in the house. Let me go heat up some water for you.” And without another word, Frank got up to hurry inside to go start making tea.

Already Joel could feel Tess’ irritation with him but he couldn’t be bothered with it because there was a much more pressing irritation plaguing him. His nose felt like it was alight with the tingling urge to sneeze, his nostrils twitching and flaring as he brought a hand up to rub at his nose.

Now Tess was up and moving over towards him, “You told me this morning it was only allergies. What changed?”

“D’nothi’g c-chhhadged… Hih- ngXH’T! Uh… m’FGH’T! Ugh. I’b fide. You were excited to get out here add trade. Just sobe sdiffles, Tess.” Once more his hand had shot up to pinch his nose shut instinctively to muffle the sound even if the space was “safe”. And as if to prove his point, Joel sniffled though it sounded a little soupier than he intended which made Tess frown in concern.

At that moment, Frank popped his head out of the house to call for Tess and ask her to come inside and help him choose what kind of tea she thought Joel might like. Which left Bill and Joel at the table together. It happened somewhat often now. Frank called Tess inside to swap goodies unseen by their more stern partners who would undoubtedly disagree with whatever they were trading.

For a few moments, a tense silence lingered, broken only by Joel’s sniffles until finally, Bill broke it with a harsh- “You’re shivering.”

Joel was so startled all he could reply with was a confused and congested, “What?”

Bill took a breath which came back out as an exasperated sigh at having to repeat himself for the sick man before him. “You’re shivering because you’re dressed like an idiot. Probably how you let yourself get sick in the first place.” He pushed himself up from the table to head inside.

This left Joel now alone and cold at the table in just his flannel, t-shirt, and jeans. He’d thought this had been perfectly acceptable for the weather, but well if Bill thought-

And then there was Bill… come back out of the house with a warm-looking, dark gray thermal shirt. “Here. Put it on before your woman worries herself sick over you.”

“We’re d’not-” Joel starts as he reaches up hesitantly to take the shirt from Bill.

“I don’t care what you two are. Frankly, I don’t care much about you two at all, but Frank does… So, I do care.” Bill said quietly, politely looking away towards the house as Joel slipped the thermal shirt on over his t-shirt.

Once his flannel was back in place, Joel cleared his throat and sniffed. His shivering had stopped almost entirely now, and he gave Bill a grateful glance. “Thadk you… what do you wadt as a trade for the sweater?” He asked, plucking at the thermal he now wore. His nostrils were starting to twitch as the need to sneeze was rearing its head again, prickling up through his nose.

Waving his hand, Bill seemed to just wave him off. “It’s a gift, but if you come across painting supplies I’d be grateful for them… Frank seems interested in learning.”

“I’ll keep ad e-eeh eye out for you,” Joel promises, clearly starting to struggle with his nose, so his hand comes up at the ready to pinch it like last time.

Though Bill seems to have an opinion on that. “Don’t do that. Stifle. You don’t have to here. It’s fine to make noise. Just…” He sighed like he couldn’t believe he was the one having to say it. “Relax, Joel.”

There was the barest hint of a nod from Joel who moments later pitched into his inner elbow instead to cover his sneeze. “HhhISHHue! Ihh…ISShuh! Jesus…” He gave a bit more of a watery sniff after the unstifled sneezes into his flannel which he used to wipe his nose.

Moments later in the distance, there was a screech and an explosion. Safe, Joel reminded himself.

#snz #snz kink #snzfic #snzblr #snzfucker #snz prompt #anon snz prompt #bex answers stuff #la/st of us #jo/el miller #te/ss servopoulos #bi/ll last of us #fr/ank last of us

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