HOME | DD

Description

Previous: [x ]

Next: [x ]

EDIT: propaganda real. it's up now. enjoy this rp between me and hy-de !

featuring Huebey and lovely writing from hy-de

20/403
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…

===

Hetro’s attempt at getting into the Adventurer’s Guild went a lot better than he had expected- everyone was very nice (why wouldn’t they be?) and were even more than willing to help with his personal reasons for joining once he admitted the truth to them. It left him in a much better mood than he had felt in days, and he was lit with excitement. He knew he had to tell everyone what happened.

He practically burst through Betta’s house’s front door and spilled the news to anyone there. It caused a ruckus, though one with a lot of congratulation, and it buzzed Hetro up with so much energy and brought a bigger smile to his face. His eyes were fixated on upstairs though, and he was left to head up and knock at Huebey’s door before he simply opened it and stuck his head inside.

“Hey, hey! You awake?” He looked around with wide eyes, restraining himself from just barreling in.

Huebey was in fact not awake, but sprawled out on his bed. The bunny snored away in the middle of the day until his friend made quite the loud entrance downstairs and now into his room.

A little head raised up from the sheets of his nest. He looked clearly out of it and just woken up with his hair all frizzled and ears folded weirdly. The folk groaned out in pain as the trauma of waking up flooded him. “Now I am…”

Hetro giggled childishly at the sight. “Morniiiinnng,” He sang as he let himself in, “how’s your hibernation? You slept through the whole year, dude. It’s spring now and there’s a new family living here. They said they were so scared of waking you up they didn’t bother trying.” As he spoke, he sat at the edge of the bed and smirked at Huebey. “They were begging me to get you up!”

“…Very funny.” Huebey exclaimed after he had a quick thought that it was an obvious lie. He snatched one of the stuffies from his nest to brutally chuck it at poor Hetro. The plush toy of a goober softly booped at Hetro’s face and flopped onto the ground. It earned him a good laugh out of Huebey as he shifted to sit up.

He confusingly scanned Hetro up and down, tilting his head slightly to rest it on one of his hands. “You’re never this excited, well I lied, not in my room at least.” Huebey spoke, “Did something happen?”

Hetro stuck his tongue out at Huebey before yelping with surprise, smacking the toy away. “Aw! That’s how you treat your great awakener?” He picked up the plush and squeezed it between his hands, about to throw it back, but Huebey changing the subject made him light up and completely forget about revenge.

“Yeah! Yeah!” His wings flapped and his tail wagged in a blur. “I- well! Hmmmmm….” He got a devious look as he got a sudden thought. “Try to guess what I did today.”

It took a moment for Huebey to fully understand him, though he finally uttered out, "What, did you go into the sewers? Find a rock that looks kinda like you again?" Huebey yawned and scratched his back the best he could before slouching back down.

"Saw meeee?" Huebey cheekily smirked, obviously inflating his own ego as a joke. He waved it off though, "No but seriously, tell me."

Hetro clambered over to scoot up and sit next to Huebey, tossing the toy between his hands. He listened with amusement at the guesses, rolling his eyes a little.

“Even better- maybe just as good as the last one,” he raised a brow, “but listen… I joined the Adventurer’s Guild!” He set the toy down to hold his hands out, beaming. “Long story short Dr. Dooley wrote to them saying I’m good enough to join, and I got in! Isn’t that crazy? I got a job!”

"Ohh, you finally got a job?" Huebey processed the information. It wasn't easy to as he still had his morning dizziness. He smiled at Hetro over the outstanding news until the phrase 'Adventurer's Guild' finally went out of his other ear.

"Hah. What." Huebey perked up, still awkwardly smiling, "You what." His mind buzzed and screamed silently, not wanting to alert Hetro but at the same time Huebey wanted to just yell.

“The Adventurer’s Guild!” Hetro repeated, the quiet reaction not simmering his mood in any way. “There’s like a whole ton of them. They’re the ones who go out and get supplies for other guilds, and explore and find all sorts of new things for the grove to use.” He proudly repeated what he had learned about the Guild from his research.

“They even fight predators like you did! Which … I dunno if I wanna do that, but I mean, if it happens it happens. But y’know.” He laughed it off with a shrug.

“Hetro, I don’t think you understand.” Huebey gestured his hands in a confusing way, “Finnegan sent you to die, man.” It wasn’t an exaggeration, but he made it seem that way. Worry and panic got to his head silently as he kept his composure. “You know the casualty rate is over half, right?”

Huebey reached for anything in his nest to hold onto. A rock sunk into the bottom of his stomach as Hetro mentioned the Wyld Hunt, “I had to do it. I didn’t have a choice— It was horrible and people died.”

“… Sorry. I came off wrong. I’m sorry. Your, uh, experience is… different.” The switch in tone made him freeze up, genuinely feeling bad and catching himself with the slip up. “I know it’s got a lot of risks, but that’s, y’know, it’s not what you jump into. That’s the higher ranks.” He tried to reason the fear his friend was expressing, though he was at a loss of what to say. “They- you get training, and you learn a lot of stuff, and- it’s- I’ll be fine!” He brought back his smile to try and cheer up. “I wouldn’t have said yes if I didn’t think I could handle it, y’know.”

“I… I guess.” Huebey muttered in defeat, realizing that Hetro basically asked to be a part of that team. His ears flattened and the smile Hetro brought on never made Huebey crack one back. “It’s horrible out there, I just don’t want you to die.”

Huebey wished he wasn’t told at all, and that he would be sleeping in his nest forever. He didn’t understand the feeling of someone yearning to go get themselves eaten or blown up.

Hetro’s eyes went wide. “I’m not gonna die,” he said softly. “The Wyld Hunt was crazy because of the seal, and that’s back and new so anywhere the newbies go will be … a lot less than what you probably saw.” Hetro wrung his hands, trying to reach for something to make it sound okay. “If it gets to where I can’t really keep up with the work or I get into something… that I can’t do, I’ll leave.” His tail curled around him and Hetro found himself grabbing the goober plush again to have something to mess with, looking away. “But… I do wanna try, y’know?”

Hetro fell silent, frowning at how he’d gone and made his best friend so sad and worried. A deeper grimace tugged at his frown as he realized he hadn’t really… told Huebey about what he’d learned in the past week. He looked down at the folk, hesitating, then shut his eyes tightly and spoke up quickly before he could change his mind. “And there’s a reason why I’m joining, and it’s not to look cool or be brave or because everyone says it’s very important to the grove or whatever.” He pinned his ears back as he felt almost embarrassed bringing it up, though it mostly brought a heavy sadness that he didn’t want to face. He hadn’t wanted to talk about it but if anyone deserved to hear it, it was Huebey.

“I do trust you, to a point.” Huebey chuckled a bit, staring at Hetro as he started his reason. All of what was said was true, the Wyld Seal was anew and active until the next Hootenanny, but it still made him uneasy. The shit he had to see when Huebey had just gotten here was enough already. “And what could possibly be the reason if it’s not all of those?”

The stone stayed at the bottom of his guts because he was curious, but he believed it may be worse than all that. Huebey shifted in his place, his legs between his arms as he sat. “Don’t say anything stupider than those, please?”

“Haha… I’ll tryyy….” He said, laughing weakly as his features drooped along with his voice trailing off. “Um… don’t feel bad if you don’t remember- but I mentioned… once or twice how I have a brother I’m looking for?” He didn’t try catching a glance at Huebey, instead looking down at his hands. “I, kind of sorta maybe… figured out he’s not… really here. Fully. I mean, that’s how they put it.” He muttered the last statement almost begrudgingly.

“It’s funny- I kept telling myself that maybe there was a chance it wasn’t that, that maybe everyone was wrong and I just knew better. I mean, nothing happened when I first fell through, why would…” He forced a smile, his eyes strained. “But nah- I was just stubborn.” He fell quiet. Hetro didn’t want to say it.

“I want to join the Guild because… my brother isn’t really my brother. He’s something else. I want to see it for myself.” Hetro gulped. “I wanna… help him, if it’s true. Y’know?” He chuckled dryly, pressing the toy close to his chest.

“Oh so when I want to have something, it’s a visitor, but when you do it just couldn’t be?” Huebey shot at Hetro and kicked him lightly, obviously joking. Seeing this big guy get down over this news wasn’t right, especially when Hetro was so happy he bursted into Huebey’s room. Huebey was still worried and that the fact he had to be told by Finnegan seemed to be how bad his delusions were. “It’s alright, I know how it feels.”

His body slouched back, wincing a bit as he did. It was only January and this egg shit was gonna be the death of him. “If you remember that, I’m sure you remember my woes.” Huebey groaned, “I know I have one, everyone comes with one. I know what they are now and it hurts.”

“But,” He tried to sit up, obviously not working as well as he hoped, “Damn— BUT. If that’s the true reason, I can’t really get mad.” Huebey shrugged as he shifted in his nest, “I can go as well if need be. I’m still my old self even with this fucking rock in me.”

Hetro's expression scrunched up, not taking the joke too well and curling up a bit. Now he just felt even more stupid having gone through that whole spiel. "... Sorry. I didn't know... for both our things, I guess. But it does hurt, yeah."

He blinked at Huebey in disbelief at his offer. "What?? Why do you wanna go? You're literally struggling to just sit here." His tone was a little harsh. He enjoyed to have Huebey's support and company whenever he had the chance, but to go through everything the Guild did? It felt reckless and dangerous for someone who was literally gravid.

“I can suck it in,” Huebey shrugged, rolling his eyes at the fact Hetro worried too much. “It’ll be fine, just don’t tell Finnegan about me coming or else I will be chained up to the wall.” He huffed at the name, as the guy was insane over Huebey these past few weeks.

The gravid folk crawled out of his nest and slammed on the floor with a quick “Ow.” Huebey’s legs were like a baby deer’s, all thin and wobbly and can’t make him stand. Though, through grueling efforts he did. “See? I can do it just fine with this damn thing sucking the life force outta me.”

"Huebey..." He muttered worriedly through his teeth, cutting off what he had in mind to say as his friend toppled over. He was by Huebey's side in a split second, a hand under the folk's arm to keep him up. "Dude, please. You're kinda freaking me out now. You can't do guild work like this. If this is about what I said you don't gotta worry about that, okay? I've got it!" He persuaded quietly.

"I'll be the one chaining you to a wall if you don't stop," he added as a joke, trying to give a half smile to see if that would work.

“I’m fine!” Huebey batted away at Hetro’s hand while he caught his footing. The folk couldn’t help but cross his arms and pout when Hetro tried to smooth talk out of this, “I certainly can too. If I can do it blind, I can do it with a twenty pound weight on me as well.”

“Don’t you dare lock me up, I told you in confidence I wanted to go!” He snickered, but Huebey knew it could actually happen with how Hetro is. He could easily tell Betta and Finnegan and it’d be over.

"Because those are the same things, sure." Hetro only rolled his eyes. He looked down at Huebey disappointingly. "Look, just- promise you won't try to do anything extreme, alright? Maybe?" He held up a hand as if taking an oath, nodding his head a bit to tell Huebey to do the same.

Huebey didn’t know the gesture. An eyebrow was raised as he looked at Hetro’s arm and back at him. “I prommy I won’t breaky my assy out there. I’m a professional Hetro, really I am! I can take my shovel with me if it so eases you.” A hand waved off the concern, then wincing a bit as a grueling pain spiked up in his abdomen.

Somehow Hetro appeared more unamused, with a touch of concern on his deep frown. Still, he quirked a smirk as his eyes glinted brightly with mischievousness. His prehensile tail quickly snaked up and caught Huebey’s wrist as Hetro tsk’ed disapprovingly.

“Nuh uh, I don’t think you get it yet, buddy. You think this is a joke, huh? I don’t care if you’ve been doing this for two months or two hundred months, you’re not going out there with an egg inside you.” He sounded stern, but he was light with it, unlike earlier where he was genuinely more worried. “In fact, I’ll be right here like this until you lay that thing, how’s that?”

“Alright,” Huebey shrugged, falling back onto his nest with a smug look creeping up on his face, “Well, If you’re gonna stay here with me all the time, then you’re not going to the guild. I think it’s a win win for me.” He couldn’t believe Hetro wrapped himself up like that just to give into Huebey’s way secretly. It was almost perfect and he anticipated the reaction.

“No one gets to go, best case scenario huh?” An arm reached down to Huebey’s ankle and yoinked on Hetro’s tail, trying to tug the big guy onto his bed again. “I’m sure you’d love to see the miracle of birth from yours truly!”

Hetro didn't realize what he'd gotten himself into until that moment, in which he stuck his tongue out grumpily. "Huh! Well. Maybe I'm fine with that, bet you didn't see that coming."

An entertained smirk subconsciously spread across his face as Huebey tugged at his tail, and he simply turned around to hide it, huffing out a breath and lifting his head up indignantly. "I think that would be sooo fun to watch, yeah. And you'll have a great time with me talking right in your ear while it happens. No peace and quiet with me as a roommate. That's definitely something that won't make you go insane." He turned slightly just to catch Huebey's expression.

Huebey raised his glance to Hetro as the tail slipped away from his grasp. “But I already have to deal with you, daily!”

His jarl ears flattened as Hetro kept going on and on about the circumstances, already making him slightly crooked. “Well. WELL. It’s better than going to get yourself killed. I’m sure you’ll have lots to say to me by day four.” He gestured, putting up four fingers to amplify the statement. A smile still was plastered on his face as the two bickered, “C’mon, I’m sure you’re dying to know what the kid’ll look like!”

"Yeah, I'll be telling you all the ways I won't die just by going two feet outside of the great tree," Hetro snapped back. "I'm officially in, y'know, I'm still going! Eventually! I just have priorities with you, I guess." He added with a shrug.

"And for your kid, I bet you want a little replica of- what's that fellow's name." Hetro finally turned to step towards Huebey again, waving a finger at him. "Fergus, yeah? Didn't you two have a thing going on? That'd be cute!" Hetro chuckled. "I know Finnegan would talk your ear off, too, but maybe Fergus tellin' you something could actually convince you to stay regardless."

“Ugh. We did have a thing” Huebey rolled his eyes and huffed, obviously still a bit iffy on the subject of them. Remembering was the worst part and it burdened him, “It wouldn’t work… At least it wouldn’t in my head, there was no like— Whatever. We just kinda agreed to just… this.” The folk referred to his gravid state, even when it felt humiliating.

He looked a bit droopy at the mention of the guy, but Huebey shook it off. “If you do tell ‘em, and they do come to me, I will personally chew your legs off so you’ll have to stay put!”

Hetro’s ears flicked back for a second, not really expecting such a sour response, and he tilted his head sympathetically. “Oh, sorry, man- I guess I keep my legs then.” He sighed, shrugging and trying to play along. “Kind of a shame ‘cause I wanted to see how you’d chew ‘em off. You really are just a bipedal mobbit, arent’cha?” He was close enough to reach out and boop Huebey’s nose with a finger, giggling. “A bloodthirsty one!”

The folk shifted and then instinctively flinched away at the touch of Hetro’s hand on Huebey’s nose. He was in shock for a bit, until his eyebrows furrowed and a smirk peaked over yet again.

“Okay, okay!” Huebey stood up, with some complications of course and showed his teeth, “You’d want me to be a mobbit and absolutely obliterate you? I can do that.” Huebey rapidly stomped his foot on the ground before jumping at Hetro, sprawling over the guy.

“Try me- gHK-!” Hetro spoke too soon and choked on his words, fluffing up with surprise at being bodied by a twig. He didn’t stumble too much but his wings flared open as he caught his balance, probably knocking something over. “What the hell, man!” He sputtered with a laugh as he tried to shove off Huebey. “Mobbits don’t do *this!!!*”

“I thought I was supposed to be a bloodthirsty mobbit! Attacking and eating and tearing you apart as is!” Huebey stumbled along with Hetro, biting at the other folk’s shirt and yanking it softly to avoid actually tearing the clothing. His ribbon tail slashed as a couple of stuffies fell from both that and Hetro’s wings. The rough housing continued as Huebey let go of the shirt and gnawed on the teal legs.

Teeth lightly grazed fur and skin however as Huebey bit gently. It genuinely was like playing with a child.

“Okay, yeah! Probably should’ve seen this coming but- pfft, stop, stop! That t-tickles!” Hetro tried even harder to tug off Huebey from his legs but it was getting to be a challenge as he started laughing too much.

He wasn’t really trying to fight back, just wrestling with his friend as he started losing breath from all the laughing. Eventually though, he managed to push Huebey back and into his bed, catching his breath for just a moment before he also got onto the bed and tried to pin Huebey down, trying to tickle him back as revenge. “I guess you’re just helping me practice for when I find other ravenous mobbits out in the wild, right?” He joked with a toothy smirk.

“HEY! Hetro you’re going to make me—“ Huebey heaved as his limbs flailed rapidly, trying to aim at Hetro. He held back his pained laughs and whimpered out, “Stooopp! You’re going to make me lay this thing!” Huebey growled out, starting to now kick at the other folk’s abdomen and arms. It was torture really and it was NOT fun. Ticklish pains crawled all over Huebey as he cried out.

“NO MORE!” A yelp was heard as he tried to slink away further into his nest. His body tingling and his breath now lost to Hetro’s poking and prodding. “It can and will happen, I’m sure those fuckers have an evil, dark side!”

“Ah, man, guess you aren’t a bloodthirsty mobbit after all. You can barely stand getting poked at!” He put up with the kicking but eventually stopped to give Huebey and himself a break. Hetro knew Huebey wouldn’t hurt him on purpose but he could bet on getting a bruise or two if he kept it up.

He sat back, giggling, brushing his hair away from his eyes. His eyes glinted as the other folk practically cornered himself to the end of the bed.
“If you lay that egg though, it means my jailtime here is over,” he commented cheekily. “Do I need to go again? Make that happen?” He raised his brows teasingly, inching close again.

“No.” Huebey smacked Hetro’s lingering hand away, sticking his tongue out while doing so. He was tired and everything that happened took him out! The poor gravid folk laid down on his nest and sunk there, “It’d be too early, and you know what Finnegan would do to you if he found out you messed with their egg.” Huebey added semi-playfully, even though the looming threat of a tiny, emo nerd absolutely outraged that a child of theirs was harmed was imminent.

He heaved his last sigh before flattening out, “You’re still jailed. No more guild.”

"Psh, it'll be fine. I'm buddies with his boyfriend! He can't touch me." Hetro played it off like it was nothing, shaking his head.

He watched Huebey basically almost fall asleep in front of him, smiling amusedly. "I think yes more guild, actually. I bet I could run out of this house before you even got out of bed. Worst jail ever." He made no efforts to get up, though, tempted to get more comfortable but he just scooted closer to sit next to Huebey again.

"Genuinely? I'd love to team up with you on something one day. If you actually do wanna join..." He added after a moment of thinking. "Just- not right now, heh."

“It’d be nice,” His breath lowered into a heavy rhythm as Hetro scooted on down to him. Huebey felt so tired and achy that he wanted to stay still in bed for as long as it takes. The nest called and beckoned him to tuck himself away and keep warm so the egg would be too. “I think it’ll be fine if I did go like this. But, rules are rules.”

Huebey finally accepted defeat as he closed his eyes just to rest, “Ehh, I’m no jail keeper. Though I’d try my best to lay on you forever.” The folk purred as he grabbed a blanket from outside the best and bundled up. “I’m sure you’ll learn one day to never go to the guild, unless it’s with me.”

"Yeah, the best thing you'll be out there is being my weighted blanket." He reached down and nudged Huebey by his shoulder a bit, snickering. "Already tired! You can't nap every two seconds outside the grove, y'know." He leaned back against the bed board and crossed his arms, looking down at his friend with a softened smile. It definitely wasn't the first time Huebey just passed out while they were hanging out, so he was used to it by now.

"The way you're saying things is making me wonder if you see me as a friend or some abnormally big kit to babysit," He mused jokingly, "which is funny to me considering your track record with helping take care of kits in general."

Though he was fully teasing, it was a bit much for the folk to sound so protective of him. Not that it was bad, just that it had never really happened before. Maybe Hetro was reading too much into it- Huebey mostly understood things outside of the grove as what he saw from the Wyld Hunt from the sound of things, so it could be that playing into what he said.
"You really don't gotta worry about me, y'know." He added offhandedly, testing the waters a little.

“I’m tired because you spent my day’s energy! It’s not even night and this thing is going to be the end of me.” Huebey muttered and groaned at Hetro’s prodding and teasing, shaking off the shoulder bumps. Slumped over and heaving a bit, he bit his tongue down from asking something.

After Hetro’s small add on, an eyebrow was raised. “I get to worry because you provide me food and free shit.” Huebey half heartedly said, brushing off the touchiness. “What would I do without you to drag me outside and throw me around? I’d be depressed!” The bunny folk exaggerated as he flicked his tail, sneering at the idea. But he did come down to say it.

“I worry because you’re the only close person I have. I’ve been out there and even if the Wyld Seal was up, they’d fuck you up. They did to me.” He just sat there, picking at his own fingers.

Hetro huffed a laugh at the snarky reply at first, fully intending to believe that was most of the reason, but a snappy reply died in his throat as Huebey continued. He opened his mouth to try and say something again, but he only let out a hesitant sigh, falling silent for a minute.

“Look… I…” his grimace wobbled as he somewhat jolted in the sudden feeling of hesitation. Why was it hard to say? “You’re my closest friend, too. I guess it’s okay to feel worried- it just makes me feel bad. There’s… I know it can go zero to one hundred real fast. Really I wouldn’t even be doing this if it wasn’t about my brother, y’know?”

“But…” He trailed off, losing what to even say to try and make his friend understand. He moved his arm slightly, then stopped, then continued, resting his outstretched hand in front of Huebey so he could hopefully take it. He’d go all out and scoop him into a hug, but he knew Huebey was tired.

“You’re not gonna lose me, buddy,” he managed to mutter.

“I just don’t want you to die.” Huebey curled up even more, flat out saying his woes. Even if he was scheduled therapy, Huebey never told the full story or anything remotely close. Hell he barely ever opens up and makes bullshit excuses to make Treasure talk and him nod and listen. It hurt to actually think. “I’d rather you just… stay and be here always.”

He was clearly projecting and it was to the point his eyes never met up with Hetro. It worried him sick and it made his throat dry up quickly. It hurt his head how he’s now going through the same situation again and it made Huebey want to rip something apart.

Sitting in silence, he shifted. His mind was blank and not even thinking about Hetro anymore as his brain slowly replayed the grainy footage of a recent memory, one that was blurry and unclear but so haunting. The expression of his face didn’t change as he stared out. “You’re too close to me, times like these make me want to forget.”

Hetro had to admit the words cut deep, but that’s what he was expecting to get into. There was more to it, more that he didn’t have the position to know about, simply listen and understand, though it hurt to only do that. Words couldn't express his guilt over making his friend face something like this out of nowhere, especially because of Hetro's own choices. It was quiet for too long and it pressed against him. He inched his open hand over to rest it upon Huebey’s, trying to keep him grounded or at least show he was trying to be there for him.

The idea of forgetting, not knowing something so important yet trying to cling onto it as tightly as if it were fully known- Hetro understood that. He couldn’t fight off the twinge of envy to be able to say what Huebey could, to have the choice. The thought of telling Huebey that forgetting is not as easy or as good as he makes it out to be passed his mind for a split second, but he shoved it down. It wasn't his place to be telling anyone that. He didn't know everything, he was just biased with his own desires. He supposed everyone was. Hetro wondered many things from what few words were said, but he forced them to dissipate, the silence stretching too long.

"I know you wanna keep me safe." Hetro said finally. "I get it. I wanna keep you safe, too. Keep you happy. But..." He sighed, the whole idea of the situation coming to realization bit by bit. "I- I can't- if I wait it out I'm never gonna actually do it. I just wanna try. Even just once." He forced the words out. He wanted to say the opposite, but that would be a full lie. And Hetro would never do that to anyone. At the same time... the whole prospect of it all was still fresh, and he had trouble facing it directly. But he *had* to.

"...It's not gonna happen soon, anyways." He mused quietly, giving some relief to his personal pressure and expectations. "I still gotta do like, training and initiation and stuff. But I gotta get started on working towards... y'know." He gestured with his other hand and with a tilt of his head. "So, at least, um. I'll be here. For a while."

Huebey had to sit down and really think when Hetro’s words hit him. It hurt he had to swallow once again his concerns for something so… insignificant to him. He always thought selfishly and it was always his downfall. It happens and leads him to horrible situations unnamed and certainly not forgotten. Hetro’s dilemma made it more apparent how Huebey just wanted everything to stay one one place.

His wisdom clouded Huebey, and for the first time it clouded his judgment towards real people that weren’t him. It made him sick to the stomach. “Why… Why even go at that point? Your whole thing was that your brother wasn’t a visitor, why try to go out and get yourself killed?” He huffed, staring down at the floor, “What good would it do, but bring even more unwanted feelings? Maybe it’s just me, but it just feels like suicide… I don’t know.”

When Hetro pitched his relief, it didn’t feel like one. It was inevitable and Huebey balled his fist on the bed. “I’m going, whether you like it or not. I don’t want to see you killed, Hy— Hetro.”

Hetro found himself unable to think of what to say. What to do. He realized he had nothing to argue with anymore. He didn't even want to argue anymore, anyways. They were going in circles, but digging deeper every time, and it wasn't getting any better like that. Huebey's slip-up only made Hetro realize again this wasn't just about him. It made him snap out of things, in a way- he blinked and suddenly it didn't feel so foggy anymore. Anything he had planned to say was gone in that moment.

"I... fine, fine. Okay." He rubbed his face and brushed his hair back, sighing. "Not that I was gonna talk you out of it, really." Hetro said with resignment. He couldn't look at his friend directly as he only felt guilt now. "Sorry. This is- I didn't want this."

Admitting it didn't make him feel as better as he had hoped, but deciding to lose the argument at least made something inside him settle a bit better. Still...
"I didn't think you'd be so... sad and worried because of me. I'm sorry."

“No- I’m sorry,” Huebey felt horrible, guilty even that he was sucking so much energy from Hetro to the point where a once happy folk barged into his room to a complete and utter sob fest. He hated it. It crushed Huebey’s guts how easily he made the situation so uncomfortable with his own trauma. He felt a faint, unnatural tug in his stomach when he somewhat relived it. A tug he never felt before.

He could only curl up, thinking only of Hyde and that alone sent him to the point of staring off again. “It just hurts,” he winced, “to see that someone you care for and try to help just… go away forever. I can’t have that happen to you.”

“That's not gonna happen with me, Huebey.” Hetro finally brought his gaze back up to stare determinedly at his friend. “Can... can you trust me on that? That I'll be okay? You'll be coming along, it'll be... alright.” His voice was soft, trying to bring whatever comfort he could. It wasn’t fully what he wanted, but he could put that aside to try and put some ease to the news.

It was quiet for only a minute but it dragged on longer than it should have felt. Hetro frowned, feeling disappointed that an answer was still hard to get, before Huebey let out a long sigh and sat up. He looked up at his friend and mustered a smile.

“Yeah… yeah, alright.”

Hetro smiled back, but something didn’t settle right, and it made him feel a tinge of… regret.

Was he going to regret this?

===

Description

Previous: [x ]

Next: [x ]

EDIT: propaganda real. it's up now. enjoy this rp between me and hy-de !

featuring Huebey and lovely writing from hy-de

20/403
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…

===

Hetro’s attempt at getting into the Adventurer’s Guild went a lot better than he had expected- everyone was very nice (why wouldn’t they be?) and were even more than willing to help with his personal reasons for joining once he admitted the truth to them. It left him in a much better mood than he had felt in days, and he was lit with excitement. He knew he had to tell everyone what happened.

He practically burst through Betta’s house’s front door and spilled the news to anyone there. It caused a ruckus, though one with a lot of congratulation, and it buzzed Hetro up with so much energy and brought a bigger smile to his face. His eyes were fixated on upstairs though, and he was left to head up and knock at Huebey’s door before he simply opened it and stuck his head inside.

“Hey, hey! You awake?” He looked around with wide eyes, restraining himself from just barreling in.

Huebey was in fact not awake, but sprawled out on his bed. The bunny snored away in the middle of the day until his friend made quite the loud entrance downstairs and now into his room.

A little head raised up from the sheets of his nest. He looked clearly out of it and just woken up with his hair all frizzled and ears folded weirdly. The folk groaned out in pain as the trauma of waking up flooded him. “Now I am…”

Hetro giggled childishly at the sight. “Morniiiinnng,” He sang as he let himself in, “how’s your hibernation? You slept through the whole year, dude. It’s spring now and there’s a new family living here. They said they were so scared of waking you up they didn’t bother trying.” As he spoke, he sat at the edge of the bed and smirked at Huebey. “They were begging me to get you up!”

“…Very funny.” Huebey exclaimed after he had a quick thought that it was an obvious lie. He snatched one of the stuffies from his nest to brutally chuck it at poor Hetro. The plush toy of a goober softly booped at Hetro’s face and flopped onto the ground. It earned him a good laugh out of Huebey as he shifted to sit up.

He confusingly scanned Hetro up and down, tilting his head slightly to rest it on one of his hands. “You’re never this excited, well I lied, not in my room at least.” Huebey spoke, “Did something happen?”

Hetro stuck his tongue out at Huebey before yelping with surprise, smacking the toy away. “Aw! That’s how you treat your great awakener?” He picked up the plush and squeezed it between his hands, about to throw it back, but Huebey changing the subject made him light up and completely forget about revenge.

“Yeah! Yeah!” His wings flapped and his tail wagged in a blur. “I- well! Hmmmmm….” He got a devious look as he got a sudden thought. “Try to guess what I did today.”

It took a moment for Huebey to fully understand him, though he finally uttered out, "What, did you go into the sewers? Find a rock that looks kinda like you again?" Huebey yawned and scratched his back the best he could before slouching back down.

"Saw meeee?" Huebey cheekily smirked, obviously inflating his own ego as a joke. He waved it off though, "No but seriously, tell me."

Hetro clambered over to scoot up and sit next to Huebey, tossing the toy between his hands. He listened with amusement at the guesses, rolling his eyes a little.

“Even better- maybe just as good as the last one,” he raised a brow, “but listen… I joined the Adventurer’s Guild!” He set the toy down to hold his hands out, beaming. “Long story short Dr. Dooley wrote to them saying I’m good enough to join, and I got in! Isn’t that crazy? I got a job!”

"Ohh, you finally got a job?" Huebey processed the information. It wasn't easy to as he still had his morning dizziness. He smiled at Hetro over the outstanding news until the phrase 'Adventurer's Guild' finally went out of his other ear.

"Hah. What." Huebey perked up, still awkwardly smiling, "You what." His mind buzzed and screamed silently, not wanting to alert Hetro but at the same time Huebey wanted to just yell.

“The Adventurer’s Guild!” Hetro repeated, the quiet reaction not simmering his mood in any way. “There’s like a whole ton of them. They’re the ones who go out and get supplies for other guilds, and explore and find all sorts of new things for the grove to use.” He proudly repeated what he had learned about the Guild from his research.

“They even fight predators like you did! Which … I dunno if I wanna do that, but I mean, if it happens it happens. But y’know.” He laughed it off with a shrug.

“Hetro, I don’t think you understand.” Huebey gestured his hands in a confusing way, “Finnegan sent you to die, man.” It wasn’t an exaggeration, but he made it seem that way. Worry and panic got to his head silently as he kept his composure. “You know the casualty rate is over half, right?”

Huebey reached for anything in his nest to hold onto. A rock sunk into the bottom of his stomach as Hetro mentioned the Wyld Hunt, “I had to do it. I didn’t have a choice— It was horrible and people died.”

“… Sorry. I came off wrong. I’m sorry. Your, uh, experience is… different.” The switch in tone made him freeze up, genuinely feeling bad and catching himself with the slip up. “I know it’s got a lot of risks, but that’s, y’know, it’s not what you jump into. That’s the higher ranks.” He tried to reason the fear his friend was expressing, though he was at a loss of what to say. “They- you get training, and you learn a lot of stuff, and- it’s- I’ll be fine!” He brought back his smile to try and cheer up. “I wouldn’t have said yes if I didn’t think I could handle it, y’know.”

“I… I guess.” Huebey muttered in defeat, realizing that Hetro basically asked to be a part of that team. His ears flattened and the smile Hetro brought on never made Huebey crack one back. “It’s horrible out there, I just don’t want you to die.”

Huebey wished he wasn’t told at all, and that he would be sleeping in his nest forever. He didn’t understand the feeling of someone yearning to go get themselves eaten or blown up.

Hetro’s eyes went wide. “I’m not gonna die,” he said softly. “The Wyld Hunt was crazy because of the seal, and that’s back and new so anywhere the newbies go will be … a lot less than what you probably saw.” Hetro wrung his hands, trying to reach for something to make it sound okay. “If it gets to where I can’t really keep up with the work or I get into something… that I can’t do, I’ll leave.” His tail curled around him and Hetro found himself grabbing the goober plush again to have something to mess with, looking away. “But… I do wanna try, y’know?”

Hetro fell silent, frowning at how he’d gone and made his best friend so sad and worried. A deeper grimace tugged at his frown as he realized he hadn’t really… told Huebey about what he’d learned in the past week. He looked down at the folk, hesitating, then shut his eyes tightly and spoke up quickly before he could change his mind. “And there’s a reason why I’m joining, and it’s not to look cool or be brave or because everyone says it’s very important to the grove or whatever.” He pinned his ears back as he felt almost embarrassed bringing it up, though it mostly brought a heavy sadness that he didn’t want to face. He hadn’t wanted to talk about it but if anyone deserved to hear it, it was Huebey.

“I do trust you, to a point.” Huebey chuckled a bit, staring at Hetro as he started his reason. All of what was said was true, the Wyld Seal was anew and active until the next Hootenanny, but it still made him uneasy. The shit he had to see when Huebey had just gotten here was enough already. “And what could possibly be the reason if it’s not all of those?”

The stone stayed at the bottom of his guts because he was curious, but he believed it may be worse than all that. Huebey shifted in his place, his legs between his arms as he sat. “Don’t say anything stupider than those, please?”

“Haha… I’ll tryyy….” He said, laughing weakly as his features drooped along with his voice trailing off. “Um… don’t feel bad if you don’t remember- but I mentioned… once or twice how I have a brother I’m looking for?” He didn’t try catching a glance at Huebey, instead looking down at his hands. “I, kind of sorta maybe… figured out he’s not… really here. Fully. I mean, that’s how they put it.” He muttered the last statement almost begrudgingly.

“It’s funny- I kept telling myself that maybe there was a chance it wasn’t that, that maybe everyone was wrong and I just knew better. I mean, nothing happened when I first fell through, why would…” He forced a smile, his eyes strained. “But nah- I was just stubborn.” He fell quiet. Hetro didn’t want to say it.

“I want to join the Guild because… my brother isn’t really my brother. He’s something else. I want to see it for myself.” Hetro gulped. “I wanna… help him, if it’s true. Y’know?” He chuckled dryly, pressing the toy close to his chest.

“Oh so when I want to have something, it’s a visitor, but when you do it just couldn’t be?” Huebey shot at Hetro and kicked him lightly, obviously joking. Seeing this big guy get down over this news wasn’t right, especially when Hetro was so happy he bursted into Huebey’s room. Huebey was still worried and that the fact he had to be told by Finnegan seemed to be how bad his delusions were. “It’s alright, I know how it feels.”

His body slouched back, wincing a bit as he did. It was only January and this egg shit was gonna be the death of him. “If you remember that, I’m sure you remember my woes.” Huebey groaned, “I know I have one, everyone comes with one. I know what they are now and it hurts.”

“But,” He tried to sit up, obviously not working as well as he hoped, “Damn— BUT. If that’s the true reason, I can’t really get mad.” Huebey shrugged as he shifted in his nest, “I can go as well if need be. I’m still my old self even with this fucking rock in me.”

Hetro's expression scrunched up, not taking the joke too well and curling up a bit. Now he just felt even more stupid having gone through that whole spiel. "... Sorry. I didn't know... for both our things, I guess. But it does hurt, yeah."

He blinked at Huebey in disbelief at his offer. "What?? Why do you wanna go? You're literally struggling to just sit here." His tone was a little harsh. He enjoyed to have Huebey's support and company whenever he had the chance, but to go through everything the Guild did? It felt reckless and dangerous for someone who was literally gravid.

“I can suck it in,” Huebey shrugged, rolling his eyes at the fact Hetro worried too much. “It’ll be fine, just don’t tell Finnegan about me coming or else I will be chained up to the wall.” He huffed at the name, as the guy was insane over Huebey these past few weeks.

The gravid folk crawled out of his nest and slammed on the floor with a quick “Ow.” Huebey’s legs were like a baby deer’s, all thin and wobbly and can’t make him stand. Though, through grueling efforts he did. “See? I can do it just fine with this damn thing sucking the life force outta me.”

"Huebey..." He muttered worriedly through his teeth, cutting off what he had in mind to say as his friend toppled over. He was by Huebey's side in a split second, a hand under the folk's arm to keep him up. "Dude, please. You're kinda freaking me out now. You can't do guild work like this. If this is about what I said you don't gotta worry about that, okay? I've got it!" He persuaded quietly.

"I'll be the one chaining you to a wall if you don't stop," he added as a joke, trying to give a half smile to see if that would work.

“I’m fine!” Huebey batted away at Hetro’s hand while he caught his footing. The folk couldn’t help but cross his arms and pout when Hetro tried to smooth talk out of this, “I certainly can too. If I can do it blind, I can do it with a twenty pound weight on me as well.”

“Don’t you dare lock me up, I told you in confidence I wanted to go!” He snickered, but Huebey knew it could actually happen with how Hetro is. He could easily tell Betta and Finnegan and it’d be over.

"Because those are the same things, sure." Hetro only rolled his eyes. He looked down at Huebey disappointingly. "Look, just- promise you won't try to do anything extreme, alright? Maybe?" He held up a hand as if taking an oath, nodding his head a bit to tell Huebey to do the same.

Huebey didn’t know the gesture. An eyebrow was raised as he looked at Hetro’s arm and back at him. “I prommy I won’t breaky my assy out there. I’m a professional Hetro, really I am! I can take my shovel with me if it so eases you.” A hand waved off the concern, then wincing a bit as a grueling pain spiked up in his abdomen.

Somehow Hetro appeared more unamused, with a touch of concern on his deep frown. Still, he quirked a smirk as his eyes glinted brightly with mischievousness. His prehensile tail quickly snaked up and caught Huebey’s wrist as Hetro tsk’ed disapprovingly.

“Nuh uh, I don’t think you get it yet, buddy. You think this is a joke, huh? I don’t care if you’ve been doing this for two months or two hundred months, you’re not going out there with an egg inside you.” He sounded stern, but he was light with it, unlike earlier where he was genuinely more worried. “In fact, I’ll be right here like this until you lay that thing, how’s that?”

“Alright,” Huebey shrugged, falling back onto his nest with a smug look creeping up on his face, “Well, If you’re gonna stay here with me all the time, then you’re not going to the guild. I think it’s a win win for me.” He couldn’t believe Hetro wrapped himself up like that just to give into Huebey’s way secretly. It was almost perfect and he anticipated the reaction.

“No one gets to go, best case scenario huh?” An arm reached down to Huebey’s ankle and yoinked on Hetro’s tail, trying to tug the big guy onto his bed again. “I’m sure you’d love to see the miracle of birth from yours truly!”

Hetro didn't realize what he'd gotten himself into until that moment, in which he stuck his tongue out grumpily. "Huh! Well. Maybe I'm fine with that, bet you didn't see that coming."

An entertained smirk subconsciously spread across his face as Huebey tugged at his tail, and he simply turned around to hide it, huffing out a breath and lifting his head up indignantly. "I think that would be sooo fun to watch, yeah. And you'll have a great time with me talking right in your ear while it happens. No peace and quiet with me as a roommate. That's definitely something that won't make you go insane." He turned slightly just to catch Huebey's expression.

Huebey raised his glance to Hetro as the tail slipped away from his grasp. “But I already have to deal with you, daily!”

His jarl ears flattened as Hetro kept going on and on about the circumstances, already making him slightly crooked. “Well. WELL. It’s better than going to get yourself killed. I’m sure you’ll have lots to say to me by day four.” He gestured, putting up four fingers to amplify the statement. A smile still was plastered on his face as the two bickered, “C’mon, I’m sure you’re dying to know what the kid’ll look like!”

"Yeah, I'll be telling you all the ways I won't die just by going two feet outside of the great tree," Hetro snapped back. "I'm officially in, y'know, I'm still going! Eventually! I just have priorities with you, I guess." He added with a shrug.

"And for your kid, I bet you want a little replica of- what's that fellow's name." Hetro finally turned to step towards Huebey again, waving a finger at him. "Fergus, yeah? Didn't you two have a thing going on? That'd be cute!" Hetro chuckled. "I know Finnegan would talk your ear off, too, but maybe Fergus tellin' you something could actually convince you to stay regardless."

“Ugh. We did have a thing” Huebey rolled his eyes and huffed, obviously still a bit iffy on the subject of them. Remembering was the worst part and it burdened him, “It wouldn’t work… At least it wouldn’t in my head, there was no like— Whatever. We just kinda agreed to just… this.” The folk referred to his gravid state, even when it felt humiliating.

He looked a bit droopy at the mention of the guy, but Huebey shook it off. “If you do tell ‘em, and they do come to me, I will personally chew your legs off so you’ll have to stay put!”

Hetro’s ears flicked back for a second, not really expecting such a sour response, and he tilted his head sympathetically. “Oh, sorry, man- I guess I keep my legs then.” He sighed, shrugging and trying to play along. “Kind of a shame ‘cause I wanted to see how you’d chew ‘em off. You really are just a bipedal mobbit, arent’cha?” He was close enough to reach out and boop Huebey’s nose with a finger, giggling. “A bloodthirsty one!”

The folk shifted and then instinctively flinched away at the touch of Hetro’s hand on Huebey’s nose. He was in shock for a bit, until his eyebrows furrowed and a smirk peaked over yet again.

“Okay, okay!” Huebey stood up, with some complications of course and showed his teeth, “You’d want me to be a mobbit and absolutely obliterate you? I can do that.” Huebey rapidly stomped his foot on the ground before jumping at Hetro, sprawling over the guy.

“Try me- gHK-!” Hetro spoke too soon and choked on his words, fluffing up with surprise at being bodied by a twig. He didn’t stumble too much but his wings flared open as he caught his balance, probably knocking something over. “What the hell, man!” He sputtered with a laugh as he tried to shove off Huebey. “Mobbits don’t do *this!!!*”

“I thought I was supposed to be a bloodthirsty mobbit! Attacking and eating and tearing you apart as is!” Huebey stumbled along with Hetro, biting at the other folk’s shirt and yanking it softly to avoid actually tearing the clothing. His ribbon tail slashed as a couple of stuffies fell from both that and Hetro’s wings. The rough housing continued as Huebey let go of the shirt and gnawed on the teal legs.

Teeth lightly grazed fur and skin however as Huebey bit gently. It genuinely was like playing with a child.

“Okay, yeah! Probably should’ve seen this coming but- pfft, stop, stop! That t-tickles!” Hetro tried even harder to tug off Huebey from his legs but it was getting to be a challenge as he started laughing too much.

He wasn’t really trying to fight back, just wrestling with his friend as he started losing breath from all the laughing. Eventually though, he managed to push Huebey back and into his bed, catching his breath for just a moment before he also got onto the bed and tried to pin Huebey down, trying to tickle him back as revenge. “I guess you’re just helping me practice for when I find other ravenous mobbits out in the wild, right?” He joked with a toothy smirk.

“HEY! Hetro you’re going to make me—“ Huebey heaved as his limbs flailed rapidly, trying to aim at Hetro. He held back his pained laughs and whimpered out, “Stooopp! You’re going to make me lay this thing!” Huebey growled out, starting to now kick at the other folk’s abdomen and arms. It was torture really and it was NOT fun. Ticklish pains crawled all over Huebey as he cried out.

“NO MORE!” A yelp was heard as he tried to slink away further into his nest. His body tingling and his breath now lost to Hetro’s poking and prodding. “It can and will happen, I’m sure those fuckers have an evil, dark side!”

“Ah, man, guess you aren’t a bloodthirsty mobbit after all. You can barely stand getting poked at!” He put up with the kicking but eventually stopped to give Huebey and himself a break. Hetro knew Huebey wouldn’t hurt him on purpose but he could bet on getting a bruise or two if he kept it up.

He sat back, giggling, brushing his hair away from his eyes. His eyes glinted as the other folk practically cornered himself to the end of the bed.
“If you lay that egg though, it means my jailtime here is over,” he commented cheekily. “Do I need to go again? Make that happen?” He raised his brows teasingly, inching close again.

“No.” Huebey smacked Hetro’s lingering hand away, sticking his tongue out while doing so. He was tired and everything that happened took him out! The poor gravid folk laid down on his nest and sunk there, “It’d be too early, and you know what Finnegan would do to you if he found out you messed with their egg.” Huebey added semi-playfully, even though the looming threat of a tiny, emo nerd absolutely outraged that a child of theirs was harmed was imminent.

He heaved his last sigh before flattening out, “You’re still jailed. No more guild.”

"Psh, it'll be fine. I'm buddies with his boyfriend! He can't touch me." Hetro played it off like it was nothing, shaking his head.

He watched Huebey basically almost fall asleep in front of him, smiling amusedly. "I think yes more guild, actually. I bet I could run out of this house before you even got out of bed. Worst jail ever." He made no efforts to get up, though, tempted to get more comfortable but he just scooted closer to sit next to Huebey again.

"Genuinely? I'd love to team up with you on something one day. If you actually do wanna join..." He added after a moment of thinking. "Just- not right now, heh."

“It’d be nice,” His breath lowered into a heavy rhythm as Hetro scooted on down to him. Huebey felt so tired and achy that he wanted to stay still in bed for as long as it takes. The nest called and beckoned him to tuck himself away and keep warm so the egg would be too. “I think it’ll be fine if I did go like this. But, rules are rules.”

Huebey finally accepted defeat as he closed his eyes just to rest, “Ehh, I’m no jail keeper. Though I’d try my best to lay on you forever.” The folk purred as he grabbed a blanket from outside the best and bundled up. “I’m sure you’ll learn one day to never go to the guild, unless it’s with me.”

"Yeah, the best thing you'll be out there is being my weighted blanket." He reached down and nudged Huebey by his shoulder a bit, snickering. "Already tired! You can't nap every two seconds outside the grove, y'know." He leaned back against the bed board and crossed his arms, looking down at his friend with a softened smile. It definitely wasn't the first time Huebey just passed out while they were hanging out, so he was used to it by now.

"The way you're saying things is making me wonder if you see me as a friend or some abnormally big kit to babysit," He mused jokingly, "which is funny to me considering your track record with helping take care of kits in general."

Though he was fully teasing, it was a bit much for the folk to sound so protective of him. Not that it was bad, just that it had never really happened before. Maybe Hetro was reading too much into it- Huebey mostly understood things outside of the grove as what he saw from the Wyld Hunt from the sound of things, so it could be that playing into what he said.
"You really don't gotta worry about me, y'know." He added offhandedly, testing the waters a little.

“I’m tired because you spent my day’s energy! It’s not even night and this thing is going to be the end of me.” Huebey muttered and groaned at Hetro’s prodding and teasing, shaking off the shoulder bumps. Slumped over and heaving a bit, he bit his tongue down from asking something.

After Hetro’s small add on, an eyebrow was raised. “I get to worry because you provide me food and free shit.” Huebey half heartedly said, brushing off the touchiness. “What would I do without you to drag me outside and throw me around? I’d be depressed!” The bunny folk exaggerated as he flicked his tail, sneering at the idea. But he did come down to say it.

“I worry because you’re the only close person I have. I’ve been out there and even if the Wyld Seal was up, they’d fuck you up. They did to me.” He just sat there, picking at his own fingers.

Hetro huffed a laugh at the snarky reply at first, fully intending to believe that was most of the reason, but a snappy reply died in his throat as Huebey continued. He opened his mouth to try and say something again, but he only let out a hesitant sigh, falling silent for a minute.

“Look… I…” his grimace wobbled as he somewhat jolted in the sudden feeling of hesitation. Why was it hard to say? “You’re my closest friend, too. I guess it’s okay to feel worried- it just makes me feel bad. There’s… I know it can go zero to one hundred real fast. Really I wouldn’t even be doing this if it wasn’t about my brother, y’know?”

“But…” He trailed off, losing what to even say to try and make his friend understand. He moved his arm slightly, then stopped, then continued, resting his outstretched hand in front of Huebey so he could hopefully take it. He’d go all out and scoop him into a hug, but he knew Huebey was tired.

“You’re not gonna lose me, buddy,” he managed to mutter.

“I just don’t want you to die.” Huebey curled up even more, flat out saying his woes. Even if he was scheduled therapy, Huebey never told the full story or anything remotely close. Hell he barely ever opens up and makes bullshit excuses to make Treasure talk and him nod and listen. It hurt to actually think. “I’d rather you just… stay and be here always.”

He was clearly projecting and it was to the point his eyes never met up with Hetro. It worried him sick and it made his throat dry up quickly. It hurt his head how he’s now going through the same situation again and it made Huebey want to rip something apart.

Sitting in silence, he shifted. His mind was blank and not even thinking about Hetro anymore as his brain slowly replayed the grainy footage of a recent memory, one that was blurry and unclear but so haunting. The expression of his face didn’t change as he stared out. “You’re too close to me, times like these make me want to forget.”

Hetro had to admit the words cut deep, but that’s what he was expecting to get into. There was more to it, more that he didn’t have the position to know about, simply listen and understand, though it hurt to only do that. Words couldn't express his guilt over making his friend face something like this out of nowhere, especially because of Hetro's own choices. It was quiet for too long and it pressed against him. He inched his open hand over to rest it upon Huebey’s, trying to keep him grounded or at least show he was trying to be there for him.

The idea of forgetting, not knowing something so important yet trying to cling onto it as tightly as if it were fully known- Hetro understood that. He couldn’t fight off the twinge of envy to be able to say what Huebey could, to have the choice. The thought of telling Huebey that forgetting is not as easy or as good as he makes it out to be passed his mind for a split second, but he shoved it down. It wasn't his place to be telling anyone that. He didn't know everything, he was just biased with his own desires. He supposed everyone was. Hetro wondered many things from what few words were said, but he forced them to dissipate, the silence stretching too long.

"I know you wanna keep me safe." Hetro said finally. "I get it. I wanna keep you safe, too. Keep you happy. But..." He sighed, the whole idea of the situation coming to realization bit by bit. "I- I can't- if I wait it out I'm never gonna actually do it. I just wanna try. Even just once." He forced the words out. He wanted to say the opposite, but that would be a full lie. And Hetro would never do that to anyone. At the same time... the whole prospect of it all was still fresh, and he had trouble facing it directly. But he *had* to.

"...It's not gonna happen soon, anyways." He mused quietly, giving some relief to his personal pressure and expectations. "I still gotta do like, training and initiation and stuff. But I gotta get started on working towards... y'know." He gestured with his other hand and with a tilt of his head. "So, at least, um. I'll be here. For a while."

Huebey had to sit down and really think when Hetro’s words hit him. It hurt he had to swallow once again his concerns for something so… insignificant to him. He always thought selfishly and it was always his downfall. It happens and leads him to horrible situations unnamed and certainly not forgotten. Hetro’s dilemma made it more apparent how Huebey just wanted everything to stay one one place.

His wisdom clouded Huebey, and for the first time it clouded his judgment towards real people that weren’t him. It made him sick to the stomach. “Why… Why even go at that point? Your whole thing was that your brother wasn’t a visitor, why try to go out and get yourself killed?” He huffed, staring down at the floor, “What good would it do, but bring even more unwanted feelings? Maybe it’s just me, but it just feels like suicide… I don’t know.”

When Hetro pitched his relief, it didn’t feel like one. It was inevitable and Huebey balled his fist on the bed. “I’m going, whether you like it or not. I don’t want to see you killed, Hy— Hetro.”

Hetro found himself unable to think of what to say. What to do. He realized he had nothing to argue with anymore. He didn't even want to argue anymore, anyways. They were going in circles, but digging deeper every time, and it wasn't getting any better like that. Huebey's slip-up only made Hetro realize again this wasn't just about him. It made him snap out of things, in a way- he blinked and suddenly it didn't feel so foggy anymore. Anything he had planned to say was gone in that moment.

"I... fine, fine. Okay." He rubbed his face and brushed his hair back, sighing. "Not that I was gonna talk you out of it, really." Hetro said with resignment. He couldn't look at his friend directly as he only felt guilt now. "Sorry. This is- I didn't want this."

Admitting it didn't make him feel as better as he had hoped, but deciding to lose the argument at least made something inside him settle a bit better. Still...
"I didn't think you'd be so... sad and worried because of me. I'm sorry."

“No- I’m sorry,” Huebey felt horrible, guilty even that he was sucking so much energy from Hetro to the point where a once happy folk barged into his room to a complete and utter sob fest. He hated it. It crushed Huebey’s guts how easily he made the situation so uncomfortable with his own trauma. He felt a faint, unnatural tug in his stomach when he somewhat relived it. A tug he never felt before.

He could only curl up, thinking only of Hyde and that alone sent him to the point of staring off again. “It just hurts,” he winced, “to see that someone you care for and try to help just… go away forever. I can’t have that happen to you.”

“That's not gonna happen with me, Huebey.” Hetro finally brought his gaze back up to stare determinedly at his friend. “Can... can you trust me on that? That I'll be okay? You'll be coming along, it'll be... alright.” His voice was soft, trying to bring whatever comfort he could. It wasn’t fully what he wanted, but he could put that aside to try and put some ease to the news.

It was quiet for only a minute but it dragged on longer than it should have felt. Hetro frowned, feeling disappointed that an answer was still hard to get, before Huebey let out a long sigh and sat up. He looked up at his friend and mustered a smile.

“Yeah… yeah, alright.”

Hetro smiled back, but something didn’t settle right, and it made him feel a tinge of… regret.

Was he going to regret this?

===