Another day dawns for the two close friends, and by their own limited definitions 'special someponies', the two of them snuggled up warmly in the bed. Shadows move across the window as weather ponies perform their duties up high, adjusting the clouds to just the right positions. As one bit of light finds the colt's eyes, his heads rolls a bit to get out of the light, his muzzle bumping into the chitinous ear of his friend. Still asleep, the emerald colt acts out a meal in his dream, opening his mouth and starting to nibble lightly on the ear.
The young girl giggles softly, her ear flicking out of his grasp. She nuzzles his chest, nipping it affectionately on instinct.
Rhino shivers as he feels the fangs, but doesn't move otherwise. Apparently determined to eat whatever food he sees in his dream, his mouth darts forward and manages to find her ear again by sheer luck.
She yelps as he actually bites her, pushing herself away from him and off the bed. She grunts as she hits the floor, whimpering quietly.
The combination of her push, the weight shifting, and covers being moved, and the whimpering sound all serve to wake up the colt so fast it actually takes his brain a moment to catch up as his body moves to the edge of the bed. His expression is one of clear concern as he slides off, crouching next to the navy nymph. "Oh my gosh, are you okay? Are you hurt?"
She grabs her side, wincing slightly. "I-I'm fine... just a little sore..." Her hand slowly moves up to her ear, tracing the tip tenderly. "I don't know what that was..."
He tilts his head. "What what was? Did something make you fall out of the bed?"
"Yea..." She touches one of the faint marks, and her hand immediately jerks away. "It feels a little... painful..."
"Oh..." He looks at the ear in question. "Do you... want me to go get the first aid it or something?"
"I don't know..." She tilts her head down, angling her ear towards him. "Is... is it bad?"
He scrutinizes it closely. "It doesn't look too bad... just a few little dents..." His eyes meet hers. "I could go get some painkiller ointment if you want. Dad shouldn't be awake yet."
She nods, sheepishly smiling. "That might be best..."
"Okay, it's in the bathroom, I'll be right back." He walks over to the door and turns the knob quietly before slipping out.
She raises herself onto the bed, sitting on the edge of the mattress. She slowly extends the wing on the side she fell on, carefully bending it forward to inspect it. The sunlight filters through it, creating a chromatic pattern that plays across her face.
Rhino sees this as he reenters the room with a white box decorated with red cross. "Wow... that looks really pretty."
She squeaks, turning to him before relaxing. "Oh, um... thank you." She flaps her wing a couple times, smiling softly. "Thankfully, I didn't injure it with my little fall... all I did was hurt my shoulder a bit..."
"Well," he starts as he sets down the box, popping it open and revealing various ointments, disinfectants, and bandages inside, "I could put some of the same stuff on you shoulder that I'm gonna put on your ear. Oh, I could even wrap it a little if you want." He points to the roll of bandages. "It would make you look like one of those cool mares after a big battle. 'Wearing your wounds proudly' and all that."
Her nose scrunches for a second as she thinks about this. After a moment she nods, giggling quietly. "That sounds nice, Rhino..." She turns away, letting her wing fold back into its casing. "Please be gentle?"
He chuckles quietly. "Why wouldn't I be? The point is to make it so you don't get hurt more." He puts a bit of ointment on his fingers and reaches up, starting to rub it onto her ear softly. "This stuff kinda feels weird at first, but you forget about it soon once it starts absorbing."
She sighs softly, closing her eyes at the touch. "I suppose that makes sense..." Her ear flicks out of his fingers, as if teasing him.
"Hey!" He says, surprised but amused as shown by the smile on his face. "Give me that back!" He starts trying to rub the ointment in with his fingers again.
This time it moves away and taps his hand, getting the medicine on the back of it. Gel turns her head, sheepishly shrugging. "Sorry, Rhino... i-it's a ticklish spot for me..."
"Sorry, if you can just hold it for a few seconds I'll be done." He uses the back of his other hand to wipe the clear ointment onto into his own skin. After, he takes his free wrap and wrap two fingers around the base of the ear, loose enough to where it doesn't grip it at all, but prevents it from moving too much. For the third time, he starts applying the medicine.
She squirms in front of him, giggling quietly. "R-Rhino!" Her hand grips his knee, squeezing in an attempt to find something else to focus on.
"Almost done... there we go." He releases her ear. "It starts working after a few minutes. I don't suppose your shoulder is ticklish too?"
"My left is..." She rolls her injured shoulder, a small, strained smile on her lips. "My right, not so much..." She turns sideways, positioning herself properly.
He puts a little more ointment on one hand and starts to rub it in small circles on her shoulder. "Just tell me when I get to a spot that doesn't hurt."
She grits her teeth, her small fangs glistening in the morning light. She speaks despite this, her tone a little strained from the ache. "I think you'll know when..."
"Sorry... am I hurting you too much?" He stops his movement.
She takes a moment to get a steadying breath, shaking her head. "No... I don't think you could ever hurt me..." She giggles, playfully bumping his side with an elbow. "I'm just a bit more sore there than I thought. That's all."
"If you're sure..." He continues rubbing the stuff in for a bit longer before he finishes. "Okay now we just wrap it..." He picks up the roll before he turns to her and something occurs to him. "As soon as I figure out how anyway... umm... I guess just around your chest or something? Is there another way I'm not seeing?"
She blinks, looking down at her arm and chest, unsure. "I... I thought it went around the shoulder." She lifts her arm slightly, pointing with her left hand. "Between my arm and side?"
He tilts his head, imagining how it would go in his mind. "I think... yeah, that should work easier. Good idea." He holds up the roll. "Try not to move too much though so we can make sure to get this flat."
Gel nods, smiling softly at him. "Okay... I trust you..." She turns her arm slightly, placing her hand on his chest to keep it steady. She stares at his exposed chest, her thumb gently stroking the emerald fur there. "Your, um, fluffiness might make it a bit hard to stay still, though..."
He just chuckles as he holds one end of the roll to her shoulder while passing the roll from hand to hand as he starts to wind it over her shoulder and under her arm. "You know... it really seems like sometimes you've never gotten to touch a coat before..."
"I haven't... not that much, at least..." She taps her chin, thoughtful. "The ones I did touch were rather... smooth, not fluffy..."
"Everypony's different I guess." He comments as he wraps. "Though it's kinda funny, you calling something else smooth."
"Because of my chitin?" She shakes her head. "Everyone in the hive has chitin like me... if a different color."
"Do they come in as many colors as ponies seem to?" He asks curiously as he snips off the cloth with a pair of scissors and begins tucking the loose end into the folds.
"Mostly a sea green... I've met a yellow and purple one though." She giggles, moving her arm experimentally. "My mom's silver."
"Neat!" He responds as he watches her move her arm. "How's it feel?"
"Much better, actually!" She swiftly hugs him, happily nuzzling his cheek. "Thank you!"
He laughs quietly and hugs her back. "That was one way to start the morning, huh?"
"I suppose." She smirks, playfully nipping his nose. "I'm just glad I got to start it with you."
Chuckling, he nuzzles her. "Me too, hopefully you don't get hurt next time though."
"That'd definitely be better..." She reluctantly pulls away from him and stretches, groaning softly. "I would like to cuddle a bit more, later on, though... it's really relaxing..."
"You sure do like cuddling, don't you?" He smiles. "Good thing I got the same thing from my mom. Speaking of her..." He turns around, looking at the clock. "She should actually be getting home from her trip in a bit."
Gel blinks, her brow furrowing and the corner of her lips pulling down in a frown. "Should... should we be concerned? I mean... that's two parents who might discover me, right?"
"Well..." he rubs the back of his head, "Mom does tend to come in or call me a lot... and I think after a while they'll both want me to do something other than just leave and play in the yard everyday by myself, since that's what they think I do. There might be some days when I have to leave to do some stuff with them..."
"Aw..." She pouts, her ears flattening to her head. "What am I supposed to do while you're gone?"
The colt shrugs. "I don't know... we've just played and stuff for the last three days. I mean, I guess you could hide in my room, but I don't know if my parents would need to come in or not..."
"Well... maybe I could hide in your closet and read?" She nods towards the lantern his dad gave him. "After all, that seems to work pretty well..."
"I guess..." he starts, "I'll have to make sure to take the dirty clothes basket out of there so he doesn't have to go in to get it, but I guess that would work..."
"Good!" She giggles, leaping over to embrace him, humming happily as she nuzzles his chest. "I can read some more books! Of course," she pulls back slightly, looking up at him playfully, "I won't read the books about the mouse. I want to read those with you."
"I like that idea." The emerald colt agrees. "You'll half to avoid that whole shelf then, it's all books about him. Oh, and you container of love is under my bed when you need it, so you can maybe bring it in there with you or something."
"Good idea." She closes her eyes and rests her head against his chest once more, sighing softly.
Rhino just smiles, stroking her mane a bit since he knows she likes it. "Are you going to sleep again?"
"No..." She smiles as well, her ear flicking as his fingers faintly brush against it. "Just enjoying this moment..."
"Oh, okay." He leans back against the bed and closes his eyes as she leans on him.
They stay like this for a while before soft breathing reaches his ears. It turns out that the young girl underestimated how tired she was, and fell asleep against him despite her wishes.
Unfortunately, the prospect of staying like this for a bit becomes impossible due to the colt's father's voice making itself heard through the door. "Rhino? Your mom should be getting home very soon, don't you want to be out in the yard to meet her when she lands?"
Looking down at his friend and flinching, the colt tries to make his voice sort of quiet as he calls back. "Yes sir! I'll be out in a minute!" Hoofsteps signal that his father has gone ahead.
Despite the other two speaking around her, the changeling doesn't wake up. If anything, she snuggles even further against her friend, humming contentedly.
Shocked she didn't wake up, Rhino now finds himself with the task of still getting out of her grip to go greet his mother. He starts with the obvious tactic of trying to both loosen her grip on him with his hands while also trying to slide out of it.
This ends up making her slide down his body, embracing his abdomen. Muttering quietly, she nuzzles his belly and gently nips him.
Flinching slightly and huffing quietly, the colt slowly stands, trying to get to a point where he can just step out of her grip.
After a long process of this, he's almost free. Unfortunately for him, Gel doesn't seem to want him to go. With a soft whine, she tries to hug him again, but, instead, grabs his sleeping pants around his hooves.
Rolling his eyes, Rhino lets her win in a way, as he slips out of his sleeping pants, leaving Gel holding them and him in his briefs. A quick trip over to the dresser remedies the latter a he grabs a pants of pants and a shirt. Heading towards the door, the colt takes one last look at the nymph, going over and giving her a pillow from the bed to cuddle along with the pants before heading out the door and quietly shutting it.
She happily hugs the items to herself, humming quietly and nuzzling the pillow. A few seconds pass before this action slows, a look of confusion forming on the girl's face. "Rhino... what happened to fluffy?" She blinks her eyes open, recoiling slightly at the unexpected sea of white in her face. She sits up, hastily glancing around. "Rhino? Where is..."
A rhythmic and steadily growing sound draws her attention to the window. As she peeks out to investigate, the source becomes evident as a red pegasus mare with neck-length brown mane lands in the yard with a travel bag strapped to her back. Her presence is immediately greeted by the younger male of the household approaching her. She kneels down and they hug, her giving him a kiss afterward as she nuzzles him.
Gel blinks, curious and a little miffed, and mutters to herself. "What was that gesture she just gave him?" She stores that thought in the back of her mind and lowers her stance, ready to duck back out of view if either of them were to glance her way. "I wonder what she's going to say..." After a brief moment, she cracks the window open, hoping that their voices might filter inside.
"There's my little colt." The mare says as she ruffles his mane affectionately and getting a smile for her efforts. "I missed you, you know. Did you miss me?"
"Of course I did, Mom!" Rhino replies, mussing up her mane much like she did his. Of course, his efforts are met with an exasperated look from the mare as her now messy mane flops in front of her face. This makes him smile nonetheless though, as he well knows she doesn't like it when he does that.
"How was your trip?" Asks the blue unicorn stallion in front of the two as he closes the gap between the two and himself.
The pegasus stands back up, giving him a kiss on the lips and a littler longer than the one she gave Rhino. "Just fine, Bio. I didn't expect it to be anything too exciting given that it was for work, but when you get a bunch of librarians together to discuss things, some of them tend to get ideas on how to liven things up. You wouldn't believe how many goodies I came back with."
"Why, Mist," the stallion says, a hand on his chest, "are you telling me it's not all grey-haired mares with their manes in buns sitting around chatting about various ways to categorize the books?"
A little taller than her or not, Mist still taps a finger warningly on her husband's nose, her tone stern yet teasing at the same time. "Bio Blaze, are you insinuating that I have grey hairs?"
He holds his hands up defensively. "Nothing of the sort, I meant everypony else who was there of course."
She raises one skeptical eyebrow above the other a moment before giggling and giving him another kiss. "That's what I thought."
Their son just stands next to them, watching the exchange with a smile on his face.
Their hidden guest, on the other hand, watches in a mix of curiosity and confusion. "So... if they're each other's special someponies, then... special someponies touch their lips together?" She brings her fingers up to trace her cerulean lips, lingering momentarily on one of her fangs, unsure. "I... I don't think Rhino and I can do that..." She sighs, her shoulders slumping slightly as she directs her attention back to the family before her.
The red mare turns to her emerald son as Bio takes her bag off her. "So, what did you do in the few days I was away?"
The colt shrugs answering vaguely. "Oh, you know, hung out, played around. Stuff."
Bio clarifies. "He's actually been spending his days outside, almost all day in fact. He even packs a lunch."
"Really?" Mist looks at the stallion. "And you didn't have to give him yardwork, or tell him to go outside or anything? He just did it on his own?"
Again, he nods. "Yep, simple as that."
Smiling, the mother speaks to her son. "Very good, Rhino! I've been telling you that you'd feel better if you spent more time outside instead of in your room. Was I right?"
Reluctantly, as if he had made arguments otherwise and was a little hesitant to admit himself wrong, Rhino nods. "Yes Mom..."
Gel quirks an eyebrow at this, curious. "Was he really that against the outdoors?" She opens the window a bit more, hoping to hear them better. "I better ask him, later..."
Mist laughs and musses the colt's mane again. "Come on then you two, let me get inside and change into something more comfortable. Once I finish unpacking, I can spend some time with my two favorite stallions." She starts heading inside, still talking. "Rhino, I'm thinking we play a board game, it's been a while since we've done that and you always enjoyed it..."
Their voices fade and become muffled as they enter the house.
The girl, hearing this, deflates slightly, her ears flattening against her head. "What? But I wanted to play with him..." She glances at the bookshelf, eyeing the novels contained within. "I... I did say I'd read while I waited..." She sighs and, grabbing the lamp and a couple of the thicker books, carefully steps inside the closet, closing the door behind her. She sits down near the back, turning the portable light on and opening the smaller of the two.
A couple of hours pass, various muffled noises heard through the house but nothing distinct or worrying. Eventually, the sound of the bedroom door opening and shutting occurs, after a moment it is accompanied by light tapping on the closet door. "Gel?"
The door is flung open as the navy changeling tackles him to the floor, cuddling him and whining softly. She bites her lip to stop the noises, pulling away to look down at him sheepishly. "Um, s-sorry about that, Rhino... I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"No..." he answers, blinking from the suddenness of her actions. "That just wasn't what I expected to be greeted with... and why were you whining?"
"I... I was lonely..." She lowers her head, blushing brightly. "Your books were nice, but... I enjoy spending time with you, more..."
He nods understandingly. "That makes sense... and I guess it explains you tackling me and cuddling me like you're not going to let me go for a while."
"That's the plan." She giggles, leaning down and carefully pecking him on the cheek, mindful of her fangs. "I just wanna cuddle a bit with you, right now... is that alright with you?"
"Umm... sure, I guess." His eyes are directed downward at the cheek she had kissed, his mind trying to figure out how one should react to this. He settles on a smile.
"Great!" She pauses, looking down at herself and how she's straddling his stomach. "Though... it might be best to help you get more comfortable..."
"Yeah... although I admit I'm getting used to being the cushion when one of us falls." He remarks matter-of-factly.
"Is that a good thing?" She gets off, placing a hand on his shoulder to help him sit up. "Personally, I don't want you to be hurt..."
Shifting his body weight, the colt sits up. "Eh, I haven't got hurt yet, it's just getting comfortable. Besides, it seem like the one time I wasn't the cushion, you got hurt."
"That's just me being clumsy." She waves a hand at his words. "Besides, I was caught off-guard by that... whatever it was." She sits down on the bed, shivering slightly. "D-did it get cold in here?"
Rhino looks around. "Not that I can feel... oh, the window's open" He gets up and shuts it. "Plus you're still in your sleeping outfit."
"I didn't think I'd need to get clothes on..." She pouts, her cheeks swiftly turning the same shade of blue as her lips. "I thought you were going to be back in about... ten minutes, or something..."
"At least you put on my sleeping pants I left, so that helped a little I guess. Still though... sorry..." His ears droop as he looks down. "I didn't think it would take that long..."
She opens her mouth to respond when her body unexpectedly starts aching. She grimaces, knowing fairly well what this means. "Rhino..." She slowly stands, walking over and hugging him tenderly, her head nestling against his chest. "It's alright... you're here, now, and that's what matters..."
Noticing the change in her demeanor, he hugs her lightly and speaks softly. "Gel, are you okay? You looked like you were in pain a moment..."
"I... I want you to be happy... please..." She sniffles, leaning further against him. "I'm fine, as long as we're still friends..."
"Wait, what?" Rhino's ears are straight up in alarm as he tries to pat her back to comfort her. "Gel... what's wrong? Please tell me..."
She nervously smiles, averting her gaze. "I, um... I can feel other's emotions..." Her hand moves up, gently stroking the top of his head. "I could feel your sadness, and... it hurt me, a bit... I don't want you to feel sad..."
"I... hurt you by being sad?" He asks slowly, trying to make sure he understands.
"Well... yes..." She hugs him a little tighter, unsure how he'll react to this news.
He stays silent for a bit before he speaks again. "I guess... I'll just have to try to not be sad, right?"
She nods, the side of her curved horn rubbing along his chest. "Please do... I don't want you to ever be sad..."
"Ok..." He nods firmly. "I won't be sad. I don't want to hurt you."
She giggles quietly, pulling away to smile up at him and playfully tap his nose. "That's not what I'm worried about, silly. I just don't want my friend to be all mopey!"
He smiles back. "I know, there's just more than one reason to not be sad now. So... you missed me, huh?"
"Yea." She leans up and, after a second of hesitation, touches noses with him. "So... that was your mom out there, right?"
Eyes crossing as he looks down at their touching noses in curiosity, he responds. "Yeah, that was Mom. You saw us through the window?"
"Yep!" Gel pulls away, tilting her head to one side. "She really doesn't look much like you... and why did your dad have a mane growing on his face?"
"What, you mean his mustache?" The colt asks. "That's just something he has. I might be able to grow one one day too. What do you mean my mom doesn't look like me though?"
She points at her forehead. "No horn, for one thing. And... her wings were covered in feathers." Her wings extend, and she looks at one of them over her shoulder for a second. "Was that what you expected these to look like?"
He nods. "Well, yeah. She's a pegasus, and all pegasi have wings like that. Yours were actually the only ones I'd seen like that, which is why I was confused at first when I saw them. It's okay though, because yours are cool too."
Gel giggles, flapping her wings a couple times. "Thank you. I think hers are prettier, though..."
"If you say so..." He looks around. "So... what did you want to do today? Or do you want to just sit here hugging me all day?"
"Hugging now." She smiles warmly, leaning against his side and resting her head on his shoulder. "Playing after lunch. If that's alright with you, of course."
Rhino just laughs. "If it makes you happy, it works for me."