Brushed Away 2: By Hoof and Claw

by TheVClaw

Chapter Nine: How Touching

With everything properly cooked and prepared, there was nothing left for Canvas to do but let the pot simmer on the stove. Sighing in relief, the stallion wiped the sweat from his brow as he looked around the kitchen, glad that he got so much done while Troy was gone.

As he went over to the fridge to get himself a drink, he began to think about other things, no longer needing to focus on cooking. All of Canvas's thoughts went back to Troy, and how things might be going between him and his brother. While he didn't want to think anything bad was going to happen, the worry still loomed in the back of his mind while he got himself a bottle of cola.

After having a good time with Lyle, Canvas was hopeful that the little Gryphon wouldn't react that harshly about what Troy was going to admit; however, he also knew how quickly opinions could drastically change. Recalling how cold the ponies back in his old town turned on him after coming out, Canvas knew that there was always a chance of Troy's family acting the same way. Lyle may have said that he was alright, but that was just when he was seen as Troy's "roommate”—not a lover, and certainly not a fiancé.

Sighing under his breath in worry, Canvas popped off the cap of his bottle before taking a drink. After getting meals for both the Gryphons and himself ready, he was feeling rather parched by the time he got the garlic bread out of the oven to cool down.

Before he could take a second swig, Canvas heard the sound of flapping wings outside. Looking out the window, the pony smiled as he saw Troy and Lyle landing outside their home. His smile only grew bigger when he saw that neither of them looked mad or upset.

Meanwhile, Lyle glanced up at the barn after landing before giving a skewed glance to his brother. "So, Troy, you mind telling me how long you've really been living here?"

"Huh?" Slightly confused, Troy looked over at Lyle with a perplexed look on his face. "What do you mean? I've only been living here for like, almost two months now. I wasn't lying about that."

"Oh." Though he thought that his brother's home looked a bit too settled in for him to have only lived there for less than two months, Lyle didn’t hear any insincerity in Troy's reply. He still carried an insistent look on his face when he asked a follow-up question. "So, how about the tornado thing? Was your old place really trashed by that?"

"No," Troy said nonchalantly. He looked at his younger brother with a smirk. "And, technically, I never said that it was."

"Yeah you did!" Lyle insisted, "You sai—"

"What I said," Troy clarified, "was that a tornado went through Cloudsdale, and a lot of homes were destroyed. I never said that MINE was one of them."

Lyle raised a talon to make a retort; however, after thinking it over, he realized that his brother was technically right, making him shut his beak and give a light scowl. "That's still kinda dishonest, dude."

"I know," answered Troy in a more guilty tone, "and I'm sorry. But, hey, at least you won’t have to worry about your stuff falling through the floor of a cloud."

With that, Lyle shrugged in agreement, knowing that he had a lot of stuff in his luggage he'd rather not see destroyed. "Yeah, I guess. Plus, I couldn't really plug my system up in a cloud, could I?"

Troy just kept his smile and shrugged back, not wanting to show that he was still feeling a bit overwhelmed that everything went so well. Instead of any big conflict or argument between them, Troy was beyond elated that Lyle was alright with his new relationship.

Now, there was nothing else to do but tell Canvas the good news, which just made him feel even better as he opened the door.

Troy kept a huge smile on his beak and walked inside with Lyle in tow. Smelling something especially good coming from the kitchen (which smelled amazingly familiar to the Gryphon), Troy called out to his fiancé, "Honey, I'm home!"

"Oh, perfect timing!" Canvas called back from the kitchen. "I just got dinner done, and I know you're gonna lo—"

Canvas's words cut off as soon as he realized what Troy called him. He poked his head out from the kitchen, wide-eyed. "Wait, did you jus—"

Before Canvas could finish his question, Troy swooped in towards him and held him in a loving embrace. With his face just inches from Canvas's, the Gryphon held him sweetly while keeping his loving smile.

"I told him about us," said Troy as he pulled him in closer. "He's cool with it."

Canvas blinked a couple times, processing what his fiancé said before asking, "You did?" He then turned to Lyle. "You are?"

Even though he was slightly uncomfortable at seeing his brother hold Canvas like that, it didn't stop Lyle from smiling a little and replying, "Yeah, he did. Congratulations."

The smile on Canvas's face grew wide enough to nearly match Pinkie Pie's as he looked back to Troy. "Oh, thank Celestia!"

Canvas pulled Troy's head in, showing his enthusiasm as he kissed his beak deeply. Not caring about his brother being beside him, Troy closed his eyes and kissed back.

"Uhhhhh, come on!" Lyle looked away from the two and tried not to act too disgusted. "I just said I was alright with you being gay! I didn't say I wanted to see you sucking a dude's face!"

Though he didn’t want to stop, Troy knew better than to gross-out his brother and quickly pulled back. With reluctant, guilty looks on both their faces, Troy and Canvas blushed heavily and looked back at Lyle with nervous smiles.

"Oh yeah, ummm… Sorry, Lyle."

Lyle just groaned at his brother's response and kept his gaze away from them. "Ugh, whatever."

Suddenly realizing what this meant, Canvas turned back to the Gryphon, still holding him as he asked, "So, Troy… did you tell him… everything?"

Canvas began to rub the Gryphon's shoulder with his left hoof, making Troy realize what he meant. "Oh yeah," Troy said as he smiled at him, "I told him about the engagement."

"YES!" Canvas immediately ran up the stairs. Troy chuckled a little as he heard the stallion call out from the loft, "I'm so glad you told him! I was starting to feel naked without this on!"

Lyle kept a skewed brow and looked up at the loft. "Ummm… Aren't you already naked?"

"… Oh, yeah."

While Troy tried not to crack up, the younger Gryphon's focus was diverted as he smelled what was coming from the kitchen, raising his eyebrows in interest. "Wow, what's cooking?"

Before Troy could look in the kitchen and catch a sneak peek, Canvas was already making his way down the stairs with a huge smile, now feeling much more comfortable with the engagement ring secure on his hoof. "Oh, just a little something special for you two."

Realizing what it was he was smelling, Lyle looked back at Canvas with an unsure look on his face. "What exactly did you make? Because it smells a lot lik—HOLY CRAP!"

Lyle pointed a talon at Canvas's white-gold ring with his eyes bulging in shock. "That's the ring Troy got you?!"

While Canvas simply blushed, Lyle glanced over at his older brother. "Damn, dude! That's a bit over-the-top, don't you think?!"

"Hey," Troy began, trying to defend himself, "I didn't want to get him something lousy!" Looking back over at his fiancé, Troy smiled warmly. "Besides, it was worth every bit."

Canvas gave a caring smile back before walking up to him, lifting himself up so he could hug the Gryphon and kiss him on the cheek. "And so are you."

Lyle groaned a little again and looked away from the two. Even though it was a slightly better sight than seeing them make out, this was still something he wasn't used to seeing.

"So…" Wanting to move the discussion along to avoid seeing his brother doing more cutesy crap, Lyle slowly turned back to Canvas curiously. "What did you make for dinner?"

Happy about what he planned, especially after getting Fluttershy to reluctantly agree, Canvas kept a proud smile on his muzzle and looked over at Lyle. "I'm glad you asked."

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A satisfied smile shining on his muzzle while he ate his salad, Canvas was glad to see how much both Gryphons liked what he made for them. Even though he never prepared fish in his life, he was lucky enough to remember a dish his fiancé told him about once, which made him even luckier when he found out Fluttershy had some tuna to spare. And the moment the stallion mentioned the words "tuna,” "noodle,” and "casserole,” Troy was squeezed him tight enough to seriously risk injuring him.

Luckily enough, despite the addition of fish—which carried a smell that almost made Canvas gag while he had been preparing it—the dinner itself wasn't much different from the cheesy noodle dish he was originally planning to cook. Although he thought he made too much, he was happy to see how much both Gryphons were digging into it, both of them getting helpings of thirds before Canvas even finished his one plate of salad.

Troy, who was especially happy since he hadn't touched fish in almost a year, leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, savoring how full he felt while rubbing his stomach with a claw. "Oh, man," muttered the Gryphon with a smile on his beak, "I can’t even remember the last time I actually got to eat tuna!"

Canvas giggled a little as he saw how close his fiancé was to going into a food coma. "Well, it wasn't easy, but I'm glad it's not going to waste." The stallion then turned over to Lyle, who was currently eating a large helping sandwiched between two pieces of garlic bread. "What do you think, Lyle?"

After swallowing a large bite, Lyle tried to say something to Canvas. Unfortunately, not many words were able to come out of his beak.

"Dude, this is rea—BRRRRRRAAAAAAAPPPPP!!!"

Lyle clenched his beak shut and looked away, trying to keep himself from laughing at burping that loudly. However, Canvas put his face in his hooves and started cracking up, which caused Troy to start snickering as well. "I guess I'll take that as a yes!" Canvas said, shaking his head.

Glad that Canvas wasn't offended by his belch—which was something his own Mother would've smacked him over the head for doing—Lyle kept his smile as he looked back at him. "Yeah… Seriously though, this is really good."

"Thanks," said Canvas with a grateful smile before looking down at the table and shaking his head in slight disbelief. "But, let me tell you, actually getting Fluttershy to give me a couple of fish wasn't a conversation I want to have again!"

"Yeah, how did you do that?" asked Troy with a puzzled look on his face. "The one time I tried to get a fish from her place, her pet bear almost mauled me!"

Looking over at his brother with wide eyes, Lyle blinked a few times and tried to process what Troy said. "A… a pet bear?"

Noticing how his brother was staring at him, Troy settled in his chair before trying to explain. "Well… I guess he's more like one of the creatures Fluttershy volunteers to take care of, but yeah."

Before Lyle could ask a follow up question, Troy stretched his back out and continued, "Anyways, she has a huge pond full of different kinds of fish, and the ones that die of natural causes are used to feed some of the animals who need it for their diets and stuff. I tried to snag one while helping at her cottage one day, and… well… I got caught by him."

Troy shuddered a little at that unfortunate memory. "Yeah… I didn’t try that again."

"Huh…" Thinking it over, Lyle shrugged before refocusing on his dinner. "I was just a little confused. Like… I heard that Equestria is really strict about the whole, you know, eating meat thing."

"They are," replied Troy as he looked at Lyle insistently. "I mean, it's almost impossible to actually get meat anywhere. At least legally."

Troy then looked over at Canvas with a smile before adding, "Actually, I think the last time I had meat was on my birthday, right?"

"Yep," said Canvas with a grin of his own. "To be honest, I'm glad I got both the bacon and that steak. I mean, that was like, a pound of bacon, and you practically inhaled the plate!"

Lyle tried not to snicker with his beak full, swallowing before adding his input. "What do you expect? Bacon's awesome!"

Troy gave a quick "Yeah!" to Lyle's statement, which just made Canvas start laughing again. "I guess so… I still can't believe I managed to get that."

"Well," said Troy as his smile to Canvas turned warmer, "it's just another reason why I'm glad to have you."

With a large blush growing on his face, Canvas looked over at his fiancé with a gracious smile. Lyle, now feeling properly full, leaned back in his chair after finishing his plate. "So…"

Seeing how happy his brother and his fiancé looked, Lyle let his curiosity get the best of him. "When exactly did… you know… you two end up like this?"

Canvas and Troy both looked over at Lyle, surprised as they realized that neither of them had gone into detail about that yet. With Lyle looking back them with interest, the two stared back at each other, unsure about who should start. Troy gave a light shrug before deciding to speak first.

"Well…" Troy looked back over at his brother. "I… I guess it all started a few months ago…"

Troy leaned in, resting his forelegs on the table before laying his head on top. "Like, Canvas and I were really good friends for a while. To be honest, I didn't feel anything weird. Everything just felt… normal... like, the two of us were really just friends, you know?"

Canvas nodded in agreement before adding, "Yeah. I… kinda felt that way too. I didn't… really think we were anything close, but…" Thinking it over, the stallion chuckled a little under his breath before shaking his head in disbelief. "Looking back, I'm actually pretty surprised I didn't realize how I felt sooner!"

Troy chuckled as well. "Yeah… Well, after a few months, I guess… I guess I finally realized how I felt around…" Troy's eyebrows rose as he looked up, thinking for a second before looking over at Canvas. "The… the art gallery, I think?"

Canvas nodded to him and looked over at the newspaper featuring him and Celestia hung on the wall. "Sounds about right."

Lyle looked up at the headline. "So… that was when you two got together?"

"Yeah," said Troy as he lifted his head back up from the table. "Actually, I… I think I was starting to feel a lot for him a couple weeks before that, but… I was in denial, I guess."

While Canvas looked over at Troy with a curious smirk, Lyle kept a look of interest and asked, "Like… what? Did… did something happen before then?"

Though Troy was beginning to smile up to that point, it quickly dropped from his beak after Lyle asked that. Thinking back to when he really started to develop feelings for him, Troy could remember when he specifically started to fall for Canvas. It was actually after the pony had had his nervous breakdown, when Troy ended up holding him after learning his full past.

While he couldn’t deny how close that moment made the two of them now, Troy really didn’t feel like it was something he should bring up to his brother right now.

Looking over at Canvas, Troy could see that he was thinking the same thing from the unsure look on his face. Sighing under his breath, the Gryphon looked back over at his brother before trying to move the story forward.

"Well… I guess I was really… feeling closer to him after a while. And… I really didn’t realize I liked him like that until after that gallery."

"After the gallery?" Canvas kept a bemused smirk on his fiancé and tried not to giggle. "Do I need to bring up when you saw me with my manecut before the gallery and you got that huge wing-boner?"

"HEY!" Troy looked over at Canvas with an irritated glare. Lyle covered his beak and tried not to crack up too loudly, leaving Troy to groan and look away from both of them.

"Whatever," muttered Troy, starting to blush under his silver feathers. "It was just… surprising, alright? You had a really long mane up before that night, remember?"

Knowing better than to continue messing with Troy, Canvas shrugged while keeping his smile. "Yeah, I guess I did…" Thinking back to that gallery, Canvas's smile widened before looking over at Lyle. "That gallery really was a great night! Like, no one had any idea that Celestia was going to show up! And… when she asked me to make a painting for her…"

Canvas looked down at the table, staring at his hooves as he smiled with a huge blush on his muzzle. "That… that was one of the greatest moments of my life."

Troy lifted a claw and placed it on the stallion's shoulder. Canvas lifted a hoof on top of Troy's claw before sighing in glee. "I really didn't think anything could top that, but… well…"

Canvas turned over to Troy, keeping his smile. "Then… when we got back to our hotel room—"

"Ugh!" Lyle put up his claws, hoping to stop whatever he thought Canvas was going to say. "Dude, please… please don't tell me this story is going to end with you two doing it!"

"No!" Troy dropped his claw from Canvas's shoulder and looked back at Lyle with a scowl. "Dude, come on!"

"Just making sure," said Lyle before putting his claws back down. "I'd rather not hear about that kind of thing."

Troy rolled his eyes, groaning. "Whatever. That didn't happen, though."

"Anyway," continued Canvas in an attempt to keep the story going smoothly, "when we got back to our room, we…"

Pursing his lips shut, Canvas struggled not to snicker when he remembered what happened. He then glanced back at Troy with a smirk. "You wanna tell him what you started?"

"What I started?!" Troy pointed a talon at Canvas. "You were the one who started throwing strawberries at me!"

"I only threw one, and that was only because you were laughing at me! You were the one who grabbed the bowl and started the strawberry fight!"

By now, Lyle was staring at the couple with a very confused look on his face, not expecting the story to go in that direction. "Umm… a strawberry fight?"

"Ye… yeah…" Looking more embarrassed as he thought about what happened, Troy avoided eye contact with his brother and tried to keep his feathers from ruffling out.

Seeing this, Canvas's grin grew a little cheekier as he added, "And then we had a pillow fight."

"DUDE!" Troy yelled, glaring at his fiancé again. Lyle almost fell off his seat as his head hit the table, clenching his eyes shut while laughing out loud.

"What?!"

After almost a minute of laughter from both Lyle and Canvas, while Troy sat with a scowl and his forelegs crossed in aggravation, the younger Gryphon managed to collect himself before looking at his brother skeptically. "You… you had a pillow fight? And that wasn't enough to make you realize you're gay?"

"Shut up! I told you! I… I didn't think much about it." Troy mumbled those last words out of the corner of his beak before looking away sheepishly.

"Yeah," Canvas added, trying to act more civil. "And… well… after messing around like that, we… we ended up on the bed… and…"

Both of them began to blush deeper before looking back at each other, neither of them able to really speak. Groaning in frustration, Lyle rubbed his eyes shut with his talons. "Okay, I… I think I get it. That was when you two made out, right?"

"Actually…" Looking down at his lap, Troy began to look more ashamed as he avoided eye contact with both of them. "I… I kinda freaked out…"

Hearing that, Lyle lowered his claw before giving a puzzled look to his brother. "Huh?"

"I…" Now feeling guilty about how he acted that night, Troy closed his eyes and rested his face in his claw perched on the table. "I almost kissed him, but… I realized what was happening at the last second, and… I… I kinda flew off."

Lyle's eyebrows rose in surprise. Looking over at Canvas, Lyle saw that the upset look on the pony's face was proof enough that Troy wasn't lying. "Seriously?"

"Ugh… yeah…" Before he could go on, Troy sighed painfully and glanced back at his fiancé. "I still feel like a moron for doing that."

"It's okay," said Canvas with a reassuring smile on his muzzle. "I'm not mad about that, I promise."

Seeing the sincere smile on the stallion, Troy smiled back at him. "Th… thanks."

"So…" Legitimately curious about the conclusion, Lyle leaned his forelegs in on the table before asking, "What happened after that?"

Troy looked back at his brother, taking a second before remembering where he left off. "Oh, um… well… when I flew off, I… I wasn't sure what to think, you know? Like… I really didn’t expect myself to do anything with my best friend like that. Especially not a guy! But… well…"

Troy looked down at his claws, taking a deep breath.

"Rainbow Dash found me while I was in that state, and… she managed to calm me down and get me to talk about it." Troy tapped his talons against the table while he thought it over. "After I admitted that I almost kissed him, she… asked me how I felt about him… I told her that he made me happy…"

A smile began to grow on Troy's beak as he continued to recall his thoughts from that night. "I… thought that he was an amazing friend, and… I really liked him… I loved being with him… and… that was when I realized how right that one word sounded.

"I… I just let that one word hang in my head for a bit… Love… and… It just felt… good. It felt… really good to actually say that, and… I knew that was what I felt about him."

Troy then looked back up at Canvas, putting out his claw to hold the stallion's hoof while keeping a caring smile. "I was in love."

Canvas rested his other hoof on top of Troy's claw, holding it lovingly as he smiled back at him. After a moment of silence, Troy looked back to his brother to finish their story.

"Well… I ended up flying right back to the room, and I told him everything that I felt. I apologized for leaving, and I told him how much I cared about him. And then I… I said that I loved him. And Canvas…" Troy looked back at Canvas with a blush. "He kissed me. And… I kissed him back."

Noting how the two were staring at each other so fondly, Lyle wasn't sure how to feel; while he was certainly happy for the two, seeing two guys act like that in front of him was still more than a little uncomfortable. After a couple seconds of silence, Lyle coughed into his claw to break their lovey-dovey crap.

"Oh!" Canvas quickly broke off his affectionate stare and turned his attention back to Lyle. "Well, umm…"

Canvas tried to regain his composure, which just made his blush turn to a darker shade of crimson while he brought Lyle up to speed. "After that night, Troy and I were officially together. He ended up moving in with me a month later, right after he did his big play."

With a smile, Canvas pointed at the other framed headline on the wall, which showed Troy in his Phantom costume. As he looked at the wall, Lyle's beak skewed a little while he thought it over. Realizing how soon that was, Lyle turned to Troy in confusion.

"So… that means you two have been a couple for like… two months or something?"

"Well…" Troy looked up to the ceiling and tried to do the math in his head. "I think it's more like… two and a half, I think?"

"Almost three," Canvas corrected. "I think it'll be three next week, actually."

"But…" Lyle blinked a couple times as he remembered what Troy mentioned after he came out to him. "That… that means you guys were only together for like, what, two and a half months when you proposed?"

"Umm… yeah," said Troy, realizing his brother was right. "Around two and a half months."

Lyle, an unsure look on his face, stared at his brother. "So… don’t you think that's a bit quick?"

Though Canvas's eyes widened in surprise, Troy didn’t appear to react as strongly and simply shrugged. "Eh, not really," he said with nonchalance. "I mean, Canvas and I were friends for a while before becoming a couple, so it wasn't like I only knew him for those two months. Besides, how long did Mom and Dad know each other before they got married? Like, a week?"

"Really?" Canvas asked, not recalling Troy ever mentioning that.

"Well, yeah," said Lyle, trying to add his insight, "but I'm pretty sure that's different."

"Different how?" Troy asked.

"Well… For one thing, I'm pretty sure they only got married so soon because Dad knocked Mom up."

Troy's head shot back a little, not expecting his little brother to make a statement like that. "What?!"

"What?" Lyle retorted, "It's true! Think about it: when did Mom and Dad get married?"

"Ummm…" Troy blinked and tried to remember. "Like… June, I think?"

"Yeah," said Lyle, trying to make his point, "and how many months was it until the triplets were born?"

"Ummm… let's see…" Troy put out his claws and counted it out on his talons. "They were born in March, so that's… six, seven, eigh—"

Realizing the math, Troy's eyes widened. "… Oh."

"Exactly," said Lyle with a smirk as he leaned back in his chair. "Why did you think Grandpa hated Dad so much?"

Troy wanted to respond, but stopped himself as he realized how much sense Lyle's point had. Thinking it over, his Grandfather really did seem to have a bit of animosity towards his Dad, which he always just passed off as a common thing for parents-in-law to do. After mulling it over, Troy raised his eyebrows in realization and looked down at the table.

"Huh… that does explain why he always called Dad 'pecker-head'…"

Canvas, who was taking a sip of his cola, almost spat out his drink as he tried not to laugh.

"But still!" Troy quickly looked back up at his brother before pointing a talon at him. "Those two got married after a week, and they're still together! Canvas and I have been friends for months before getting together, and our relationship was like, ten times longer than theirs was before I proposed. Besides…"

Troy looked back at his fiancé with a grin on his beak. "Life is too short."

Lyle opened his beak to respond. However, after hearing Troy's statement, he realized that he had a fair enough point. Shrugging, he shut his beak. "Eh… that's true, I guess."

While Canvas was happy about Troy's answer, he was still slightly worried about how to respond to everything else. Hoping that Lyle wasn't against their marriage happening so soon, Canvas turned to him with a bitten lip before asking, "So… this isn't too weird, is it?"

"Hmmm…" Thinking it over, Lyle took a second before looking at Canvas and shaking his head. "Nah. Like… I guess it's a little weird, but, hey, who cares? You two look happy together, so I'm not gonna freak out about it."

Looking at his now-empty plate, Lyle smirked before picking it up. "Besides, if all your food is this good, I don't care if you two get married tomorrow!"

Canvas laughed a little before looking at Lyle with a gracious smile. "Thanks! Although, I don't have any more fish, so I hope you don’t mind eating vegetarian stuff for a while."

"Eh, I'll give it a shot." Lyle grinned, then glanced at his brother with a cheeky smirk before adding, "I mean, I'm just putting vegetables in my beak. I don't wanna even think what's been in yours!"

"Shut up!" Troy said, trying to sound offended. He was only able to get halfway through his retort before starting to snicker along with Canvas.

Soon enough, all three began cracking up around the table, which helped make their first dinner together a surprising success.

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After dinner was finished and their dishes were done, Lyle had a nice evening hanging with Canvas and Troy. Even though the night mostly consisted of the three playing video games, it lasted long enough that Troy was feeling exhausted when he finally went back up to his nest.

Reaching the loft, Troy saw that Canvas was already lying in the nest, reading Lyle's copy of Feather Noir with great interest until he heard his fiancé enter.

"Hey Troy," said Canvas with a smile before closing the comic, "you manage to beat that tie-breaker you and Lyle were having?"

Troy grimaced before turning around and falling back in the nest. "I swear, that kid was cheating," he muttered.

"I heard that!" yelled Lyle from downstairs as he laid on the couch. "And I wasn't cheating! It's called strategy!"

"Putting a banana on the ramp is NOT strategy!" Troy poked his head up from the nest. "And neither is using the blue shell right before I get to the finish line!"

"That's what it's MADE for!"

"Guys," said Canvas in a raised voice as he tried to make himself comfortable, "I really don’t want to hear another screaming match about this."

"But, Canvas!" Troy groaned in almost a whine. "I was totally winning before he—"

"Dude!" Canvas snapped and pointed a hoof at him sternly, "I don't want to hear it. You can settle it tomorrow. Right now, I just want to get some rest. Alright?"

Troy tried to look back at Canvas insistently; it only lasted for a second before he slumped his shoulders in defeat. "Uuuuugh…" Troy groaned before falling back in the nest. "Fine."

"Good." With a bright smile, Canvas bent in and kissed Troy on the beak. He then lifted his head up before calling out, "Good night, Lyle!"

"Night!" Lyle called back. Then, lights downstairs clicked off.

Reaching out a hoof, Canvas turned off the lamp by the nightstand, making the rest of the barn sit in near darkness. Before resting back in the nest beside his fiancé, Canvas lifted his hoof, smiling as he saw how the moonlight shone against his hoofband. Happier than ever about how well everything went, Canvas cuddled up against Troy and rested his head against his feathered chest.

"Mmmmmm…" Burrowing himself against the Gryphon's soft feathers, Canvas sighed and nestled himself in closer. "So… How do you feel, honey?"

Wrapping a foreleg around Canvas's snug body, Troy sighed in pleasure as he looked at him. "Well, after everything that happened today, I feel pretty good right now."

"Good." Canvas smiled and kissed Troy's chest. After giving another caring nuzzle to the Gryphon, he pulled his head back and glanced up at him. "Are you still worried?"

Troy sighed as he looked down at his fiancé. Despite how beautifully the pony's eyes shone against the moonlight within the darkened room, Troy couldn’t help feeling a little more disheartened after hearing that question. Before Canvas could catch the change in Troy's tone, the Gryphon looked away for a second before replying, "Well… a little bit."

Canvas moved himself upward, resting his head against Troy's shoulder as he gave him a tight hug. Troy moved his claws along Canvas's back, stroking his smooth fur while he closed his eyes. Before he could try to tell Canvas he was alright, the stallion held him tight and spoke up.

"Troy, you know there's nothing to worry about. And you also know there's nothing I wouldn't do for you."

Troy smiled and hugged him back. "I know," said the Gryphon tenderly as he kept his eyes closed, "but I… I just can’t stop thinking about it. Like…"

Troy tried to readjust himself in the nest, making Canvas lift his head up and reposition himself as well. With the pony lying on top of his chest, Troy sighed, smiled, and looked up at him. Thinking about what he was going to say, Troy's smile dropped slightly as he opened his beak.

"I just… I just don't know how Mom and Dad are going to react to seeing me with you. Or how my brothers are going to act when they show up."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Canvas assured. "You thought Lyle would react badly, and he's been really supportive of us."

Troy clenched his beak shut and looked away. Although he knew Canvas was right—that Lyle really had been great about all this—it didn’t help to ease Troy's tensions that much.

"Well, yeah, but…" Troy looked back up at Canvas. "The triplets aren't like Lyle. I mean, Lyle was already smarter than them before I left, and he told me himself that they haven’t changed much."

"So?" Canvas asked, "Is that so bad?"

"Probably," Troy said, brow raised. "Those three do some pretty dumb stuff, and I'm not sure how they'd act around ponies." Knowing what damage those guys could cause, Troy looked up at the ceiling.

"I can already imagine all the dumb crap those three would pull when they show up: Setting things on fire, chugging energy drinks, getting wasted and doing fart-rings around ponies…"

"Well, I don’t think tha—"

Canvas pulled back a little, looking down at the Gryphon with a perplexed stare before trying to speak again. "Umm… I probably shouldn't ask this, but… what exactly is a 'fart-ring'?"

"I can answer that!" Lyle called from downstairs. Not realizing the Gryphon was listening in on them, Canvas and Troy turned towards the direction of the studio.

Lyle answered, "It's this thing when you do a silent fart around someone. When you do a full circle, you know, enclosing the fart around them, you yell out 'Fart Ring!’ and run away."

Blinking a few times, Canvas turned back to Troy, who was giving him a more deadpan stare.

"They claimed they invented that, and they got in a huge fight because they couldn’t agree who should get the patent for it." Hoping that Canvas would get the picture, Troy sighed while keeping his honest tone. "That's what you're getting married into, Canvas. I hope you're ready for that."

Luckily, instead of looking disgusted or worried, Canvas just smiled before snickering a little. Appearing unfazed by his fiancé's words, Canvas giggled and lifted himself up, now sitting on Troy’s chest.

"Oh, come on! I'm not scared of that!" Canvas tapped Troy's chest gently before adding, "Besides, we had something like that back in middle school. Although, back then, we called it 'crop-dusting.’"

Troy squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to laugh, which only caused Canvas to giggle back and rest down against him again. "I'm serious, Troy. We still have two weeks before they show up, so just appreciate this right now. Alright?"

Looking into Canvas's eyes, Troy exhaled slowly, letting his mind being to settle as he gave a weak smile. Troy then lifted a claw up to Canvas's face, resting it against his cheek before nodding. "Yeah," he agreed quietly, "alright."

While he laid on top of Troy, Canvas didn’t need to bend in far to kiss him on the beak. Closing his eyes, the Gryphon slowly opened his beak, allowing his fiancé to reposition his muzzle and kiss him deeper. Wrapping his hooves around Troy's neck, Canvas closed his eyes and pulled him in, kissing him sensually as he began to—

"You better not be doing it!" Lyle yelled up to them from the couch. "Seriously, that's not cool! I can hear you guys from down here!"

Canvas and Troy both froze, lips and beak still intertwined as they reopened their eyes and looked at each other. After a second of silence, the two reluctantly pulled back, blushing before they started giggling.

Knowing they shouldn't risk trying that again, Canvas rolled off of his fiancé, resting back beside him as they laid in the nest. After a while, the barn became still once more, with Lyle resting on the couch downstairs, and Canvas and Troy holding each other in their nest.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lyle groaned under his breath and tried to get comfortable on the couch. After several hours of tossing and turning, he was still unable to get any real rest. Even though he could easily just play some video games until he got tired, he didn’t want to wake up Canvas or Troy. And, despite having far better eyesight than ponies, he really didn’t feel like trying to read any of his comics under moonlight. In a mix of frustration and tiredness, the Gryphon slumped back on the couch, looking up to the ceiling while he tried to get comfortable.

Slowly, his eyes began to close when he tried to turn off his brain, hoping that he could get at least a couple hours of sleep before needing to wa—

"Pssst! Hey, Canvas…"

Hearing Troy's voice upstairs, Lyle slowly reopened his eyes, confused as to why his brother was still up.

"Wh… what?" muttered the stallion, who was obviously sleeping before Troy woke him.

"I think Lyle's asleep."

Lyle's eyes opened a little bit more. Even though he didn’t want to think about what his brother was planning, he really didn’t like hearing that.

"Troy, I was asleep! Go back to bed."

"Come oooooonnn…"

Lyle stayed wary as he laid in silence, hoping not to hear anything he really, REALLY didn’t want to hear. However, only silence could be heard for about a minute, which lead Lyle to assume that Troy just went back to sleep.

Unfortunately, before the Gryphon could try to settle back in bed, Canvas's voice could be heard again.

"Troy, stop it."

Lyle didn't open his eyes, instead trying to ignore hearing that.

"I'm serious, Troy. Stop poking my butt."

Lyle's eyes opened that time, as a scowl started to grow on his face. I swear, thought the Gryphon as he rested his head against the pillow, he better not be trying that crap while I'm around.

Unfortunately, Lyle heard the stallion's voice one more time.

"Dude, come on! Stop poking me with your talon. I wanna sleep…"

"…That's not my talon, baby…"

Lyle's eyes shot wide open. Before he could get up and try to stop anything from happening, he could hear Canvas moving around in the nest upstairs.

"Wha… what are you talking… Oh! No, Troy! Put that away!"

"Come ooooooonnnn…"

"No! Not tonight!"

"But I can't sleep… Can you at least touch it?"

"I said no!"

"Just touch it."

"Dude, I'm serious! Not. Tonight."

"Just touch it a little."

By now, Lyle's beak was hung open in disgust and shock. Though he didn’t want to think about what was running through Troy's mind to allow him to think this was a good idea, he was too mortified to move an inch on the couch. Fortunately, before he could break from his frozen state, Canvas could still be heard upstairs, arguing.

"Troy, your brother is downstairs right now!"

"So? He's asleep."

"How do you know that? What if he wakes up?"

"He won’t wake up, trust me. The guy once slept through an earthquake."

"I don’t care! What if he does wake up? What're you going to say then?"

"I'll just say he had a bad dream."

"TROY!" Lyle shouted, too fed up to hear any more of this, "I SWEAR, IF YOU TRY TO DO THAT, I'LL GO UP THERE AND KICK YOUR ASS!"

The silence that came after that was so heavy that a pin could've been heard dropping. After about a minute, the silence was finally broken by Canvas howling with laughter.

"BWAAAA… ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaa!!!"

Troy groaned. "Okay, okay… I'll go to bed."

"’Don’t worry, Canvas,’" Canvas said, purposely doing a bad impersonation of Troy's voice, "’Lyle won't wake up.’"

"Ha, ha, ha. Very funny."

"’I'll just say he had a bad dream.’"

"Okay, I get it! You can stop now."

"’Just touch it.’"

"Alright, you made your point!"

"’Just touch it a little.’"

"Dude, c'mon! I'm sorry! Besides, I don’t sound like that!"

"’I don’t sound like that.’"

"Oh, very mature, Canvas."

"’Oh, very mature, Canvas.’"

Lyle started to laugh, which made the stallion break his impersonation and start laughing as well. By the time both were finished laughing at Troy's expense (who was now silent again as he laid, annoyed, in the nest), Lyle rested back on the couch, now feeling surprisingly more spent.

"Sorry about that, Lyle," said Canvas from upstairs.

"No problem," Lyle replied. "Good night."

"Good night."

Lyle rested his head against the pillow, closing his eyes before he heard the stallion's voice again.

"Good night, Troy."

"Eh… good night."

A faint smooch could be heard from upstairs, followed by a couple seconds of silence.

"I love you, Troy.

"… I love you, too."

After another faint smooch, the home became silent once more.

This time, instead of Lyle tossing and turning, he was starting to feel legitimately comfortable. And, after a few minutes, all three of them were sound asleep.

Comments

[clockworktomato]

Another great chapter. Awesome.

[Shellybox]

...just touch it...

#new Nike slogan

[Cheerful Earful]

I don't feel like very much happened.

._.

[Scooty Dash]

24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mabxwz8iHG1qbe7aoo1_500.jpg
What I was thinking about when troy kept saying touch it

[Keatosimo]

Welp, I think my laugh-box broke.

[Fuzzy Snuz]

This chapter should be called how UN-touching for Troy. He just wanted a little fun.

[Bad_Seed_72]

3900715

It's basically a character-building chapter, to tie up the loose end of Canvas's worries about Lyle's reaction. Now both of them know that he's supportive and the story can move towards the triplets' arrival. At least, that's where I think it's going.

Also, some comedy was needed after the feels last chapter. This was probably the funniest chapter to date!

[AryaLunara]

Okay
1. Pecker head
2. Poor Lyle hahaha

[Newname234567896532]

Damn, that was funny.

[Lady Froey]

I found the flashback to be a bit boring but is nice to have if said reader hasn't read the first story (why would you not read the first story?) and then the late night scene...

i.imgur.com/9PIIjdx.gif

[OBSIDI4N_DR4G0N]

3909436
Dude, that gif just made my fucking day lol!!!

[Sur-Toufaan]

i.imgur.com/MlHm0Zg.gif?1

[AdamAperture]

This chapter made my day.

[New Dawn]

#JustTouchIt

[Misty Horse]

Things get real awkward when i have to try to keep myself from laughing inside of my workplace bathroom...

[HauntingSpiritRisingMoon]

#Touch it.....

[Wing Dancer]

Holy shit was that ending fucking fantastic xD Howling with laughter never felt so good

[Violet Sky]

#epic_cockblock

[DerpTape]

"That ain't my talon."

"And that ain't my belly button . . ."

[Bruno]

Oh, I absolutely love Lyle, he’s a great character.

[Cinnamon_scotch]

[lunaslove]

8981125
Careful he might not love you back hehehehe