Everybody knew that Sunil was easy to scare. In fact, even Sunil knew that, but that didn't stop the fact that there was a spark of fear at each respective moment. There were just some things that that could almost scare his furr right off. Today was just one of those occasions where it really got to him. By getting to Sunil an awful lot, there was an occasion where he would do something very irronic, and that is hide behind the tail of one of the people who occasionally gave him the scare: Pepper Clark.
However, it wasn't today that Pepper scared him: in fact, she really wasn't into it today, but was nonetheless within the line of fire as Sunil ducked behind her fluffy tail that was also popular for giving off seriously bad odor. Not even Pepper till this day could figure out why Sunil thought that all of that fluff she had for a tail would somehow be protective. Of course, she would protect Sunil if it came down to it (she learned her lesson really well with Penny-Ling), but why the tail?
The fact right how was Sunil was scarred to shedding and both were under the same situation again: Sunil jumping in fright and using Pepper's tail for comfort. Every time, it surprised her, but this time, she made up her mind that she was going to try another way of coaxing him off like a good friend should. She wasn't alone on the topic of Sunil's confience: everyone was surrounding Sunil now to see if the Halloween spook was too much for him.
"Hey, are you okay?" Pepper was first to ask, "It's just a Halloween decoration."
"I told you that making those decorations move would spook him!" Russell snapped to the fellow gecko.
"But he said before we got into the pet shop that he could take it!" Vinnie said in honest innocence (which was very much the case), "Awww, man, I'm sorry, bro."
"But you don't understand!" Sunil wailed, "Those zombies on the mirror were actually terrifying!"
"Come on, Sunil," Pepper said encouragingly, "At least they do not move."
"Pepper!" Russell snapped.
"Hey!" Pepper shot back to the hedgehog, "I'm trying to be supportive here!"
"Yeah," Russell said with a frown on his muzzle, "Like that's ever helped the situation concerning Sunil."
"Actually, she's helping me an awful lot at the moment," Sunil confessed, "Perhaps if I stay right here, those zombies will not get me."
"Didn't I just say that they don't move?" Pepper pointed out, lifting a lit of her tail fur away from the face of the blue mongoose, "Look, Sunil, I can talk to Blythe to take those zombies down if-"
Normally, Pepper would not have stopped herself, but if there was anything that stopped Pepper from talking, it was the golden eyes of the blue mongoose. By the regular standard, Pepper had no idea how much effect of cute that Sunil alone had on Blythe. Now, Pepper was about to have some understanding of how Blythe felt when the pets were all looking at her with pleading eyes.
She wanted to say something, really she did, but what could she say? Those big, round, golden orbs were just silently saying, "Please, let me stay here?" Immediately, for reasons she knew why, she felt her heart soften at Sunil's pleading gaze to let him hold onto her tail. Everyone else was watching, each one having their own, mixed feelings. Out of them, Penny-Ling couldn't help but smile at Pepper's priceless reaction.
"I can go get Blythe to take down the zombies!" Penny-Ling said with excitement in her voice, "You don't need to move, Pepper."
"Good idea," Russell concluded, "Penny-Ling can get Blythe, and Pepper can just let Sunil cuddle with her tail."
Cuddle… of all words Russell had to use, it was cuddle…
This was going to be most confusing, heart-melting half hour of her life. Sure, the only thing that made a lick of sense was Russell's averagely smart mouth, but everything else was pretty confusing, such as Zoe's big grin on her face like she had just witnessed the sweetest revenge, and how everyone except her wanted her to stay exactly where she was sitting. Although, suddenly thinking about it, Pepper wasn't even sure if she wanted to move. Sunil seemed to really need her tail to sooth his nerves, but what she couldn't get out of her head was the grand force of cute that Sunil may or may not have intentionally did to her. In a way, it was as if she was scarred for life, but not in a horrific way.
Turning her head back to Sunil, his eyes weren't as big and as pleading as before, but there he was, still under her tail. The only reason why Pepper continued to feel shivers up her spine was simply because Sunil was petting her tail. Why wouldn't she feel this way? Sometimes, when people actually wanted to pet her tail, it felt pretty good. In all honesty, she really wanted to relax into the feeling, but a the worry of making Sunil feel worse suddenly jolted into her. No, no she couldn't relax: don't freak Sunil out anymore than in the state he is already in.
"Awww! This is so cute!"
Pepper turned to look up at the source of the voice: it was Blythe.
"I have got to take a picture!"
Panic suddenly ran through her veins, but the panic was at war with the worry she had for Sunil, so as Blythe took out her phone to take a picture of the scene, Pepper did the only thing she felt that she had the power to do at the moment: place a paw over her face and close her own pink orbs. She knew that she was blushing greatly as she heard the click of the phone as the verbal witness that the picture was, indeed, taken.
"Don't worry Pepper," Blythe insured Pepper, "This is going to be a personal favorite of mine. I'll go take down those zombies and move them out of the pet room. I told Mrs. Twombly that those zombies inside of the pet room wasn't a good idea, even if it is Halloween."
Pepper had lifted her paw from her face as she witnessed Blythe taking down the zombies. Penny-Ling had entered the room the same time Blythe did, so as she was taking them down, the panda went over to Sunil, whom still had not seen anything because of all the fur Pepper's tail contained.
"Sunil," Pepper said happily, "You don't have to hide anymore. Blythe is taking down the zombies and moving them."
"Oh, what a relief!" Sunil said happily, with Pepper carefully lifting her tail off of him so he could get up, "I'm so glad that those zombies are gone!"
"Hey, Sunil," Vinnie said, "Are you going to back out from that bet that we made?"
"About watching that one horror movie tonight?" Sunil replied as his thoughts were confirmed with a nod from his gecko friend, "I never back out from a bet!"
Vinnie and Sunil smiled at each other as they went over to the television, allowing Penny-Ling to take a glance at Pepper. Much to her surprise, Pepper wasn't her usual self. In a situation like this, she would be laughing, or smiling with relief. So, then, why wasn't she doing that now? More importantly, why was she frowning.
"What's wrong, Pepper?" Penny-Ling asked.
"Yeah!" Zoe cut in, patting Pepper on the back, "You protected Sunil from scary zombies with your fluffy tail!"
"That's true," Pepper replied, "But he's back to his usual self again."
Turning around, she walked back to the fire hydrant with Zoe and Penny looking at her from behind, very much confused about what they had just seen. However, Pepper couldn't admit to them what was on her mind. Not only was she scarred for life with a sheer force of cute, but she was also feeling incredibly sad. While her sadness was blamed on Sunil, she knew that the source of the sadness not from the eyes of the mongoose. In fact, it had nothing to do with his eyes at all, but rather his mouth.
All she wanted was a thank you.
Comments of the Writer:
Thank you, once again, for reading another Sepper one-shot. For those of you who have just been introduced to me (regardless if it is just by being introduced by a friend, stumbling across Sepper fan fiction, etc.), there are plenty of other Sepper one-shots that I have done in the past: I'm Here, Apology for Romance, and Midnight Drink.
The inspiration for this one was quite funny. I had this idea in my head for sometime since Sunil occasionally (and I do mean occasionally) hid behind Pepper's tail in fear in very few episodes. So it dawned on me, "What if Pepper got the same force of cute that all the other pets give Blythe, only it's just Sunil?" Thus, you have another one-shot. I will admit that I didn't come up with the name until now. Eyes and Tail just seemed to sound an awful lot like heads and tails, but heads had nothing to do with this one-shot, so here you go.
I will also confess that I am worried about the word count on this fiction. For some reason, it seems to be very short to me than my other Sepper one-shots. Well, the bright side is that this was two and a half pages long on Google Docs, so I think I'll be fine.
Once again, I not only ask for constructive criticism, but I also ask that you refrain from flaming me for writing another Sepper one-shot. Not everyone sees eye-to-eye with who they think Sunil should be with. Thank you very much for reading Eyes and Tail, and have a wonderful rest of the day.
May God's love, grace, and mercy be with us all.