Snow
"Whyyyyyyyyy areee weee goinnnggg sooooo slooooowwwwwww?" Sid groaned.
"Because, we're in seven feet of snow. If you think you can go faster, be my guest." Manny growled.
Diego snorted. "Why doesn't he?" And with that he pushed Sid off.
"Ahhmmph!" a small cloud of powdery snow foofed up when the sloth hit the snow. When he finally got up and looked around, and saw Manny and Diego were already a good distance away. "Hey! Wait up you guys!" He waved his arms frantically and swam his way back to the two. "Gosh, don't wait up for me then…" He dusted himself off and climbed back onto Manny's back. "Why are you guys so mean to me anyways? Aren't herds supposed to care for each other??"
Diego rolled his eyes. "We only hate you because we care."
Sid frowned. "Well that's a cruel irony…"
"Just like you." Manny said. "Now be quiet, please. I have a migraine listening to you argue with Diego."
Sid crossed his arms and looked in the opposite direction of his friends. After a moment though, he lost interest in the snow and mountain landscape and sighed. Nobody noticed apparently, so he sighed louder. Still no reaction. He sighed a bit louder. Still nothing. He took in a deep breath and sighed again, this time quite audibly. Diego snarled and smacked the sloth across the back of his head.
"OW! What was that for?!?"
"What do you think, Mr.-has-to-always-be-entertained?"
Sid recoiled. "At least I don't, don't, have a big face!"
"Shut up!" Manny yelled before Diego could say anything more.
Sid huffed and crawled as far away as possible and held his knees, his back to the saber tooth. Diego growled and lay down. 'Just like a two year old!' he thought in frustration.
---
Two hours later as the sun set over the frozen horizon, the odd bunch had settled down in a small cave. Manny had situated himself in the middle of the cave, and Diego had found a comfortable spot in the back. He watched Sid sitting just outside the opening of the cavern, the sloth's arms folded and his head drooped dejectedly. Diego couldn't help feeling sorry for the wretched animal, and finally decided to get him out of the snowstorms way.
Sid felt something grab his shoulder and pull him into the cave. He looked up, but when he saw it was only Diego, he sighed and buried his face back in his arms.
Diego was growing worried, a rare emotion for him. Usually when Sid was depressed, he always made a big point of it to everyone, huffing and sighing and sniffling and complaining, but this time, he simply withdrew as far away from everyone ( after making a fire of course) and didn't so much as say good night.
"So, what's wrong?" He tried to make it more of a statement rather than a question.
Sid looked up at him, sniffle nosed and watery eyed. "Oh nothing, just got a cold, tha's all." He sniffed and wiped his nose messily. Diego chose to ignore this.
"I know you're lying, now tell me." His eyes glowed green ever so slightly. Sid shuddered. " Okay, okay, no need for the creepy eyes. I'm just a lil' sad because, well, I might act like I don't mind being teased all the time, but it still brings me down, you know?" He looked down and played with a rock absentmindedly.
Diego felt a little bit of guilt bubbling up in his chest. Sid continued to fiddle with the rock, but then he noticed something about his friend.
"Hey Diego, what's on your mind?"
Diego froze. "Nothing." He lied, "I was just looking at the view, outside." He redirected his gaze to the gray blur in front of them. Sid squinted. "I don' see anything, just snow. No, wait… never mind, just snow." He wiped his nose on his arm again and looked back at the saber tooth. "What's so interesting about that? It's just something you see every day."
Diego avoided eye contact with the sloth. "Well, I see you every day, and you're pretty interesting-"He stopped himself.
"Well, in a really annoying way…" He muttered.
Sid frowned. " Hey, can't ya stop making fun of meh for two seconds?"
Diego claws dug lightly into the dirt. "No, I didn't mean it like that, its just that… forget it." He slumped onto his belly and looked away. Sid blinked, his sadness overthrown by curiosity. "Well what is it, you bipolar tiger?" He poked the back of the predators head with his claw.
Diego swatted the irritation away and looked back at the sloth. "Do you have to know?" He asked, even though he already knew the response.
Sid nodded eagerly.
"All right then, here it is. I think you are interesting to watch, okay?"
Sid blinked again. "What do you mean by that?" He wasn't sure whether his friend thought he was dinner or a fascination.
Diego's claws expanded back into the dirt, and his breathing got quicker, just by the slightest bit. Sid still noticed.
"You're just out of the ordinary, okay?" He looked straight into the sloth's eyes for a split second before turning away again.
Sid stupidly smiled and pointed. "Youuuu, like me, don't you?"
Diego's eyes widened.
"N-no, just as a friend! That's it." His heartbeat drummed heavily in panic.
Sid completely ignored his friends reply. "Ha! I knew it! That's why you're always mean to me! I knew that nobody could resist the 'Lord of the Flames'!" He jumped up and danced in place." I'm so awesome, not even Diego can…" He trailed off.
"Wait a second. You like me, like that?"
Diego looked away, his face warming up. "Uh…" He fumbled. 'How does that stupid, stupid sloth get into my brain so well?' He thought, extremely aggravated.
Sid seemed to deflate "Well, okay, I guess not." He sat back down and looked into the whirlwind of snow, without another word. Other than the crackle of the dying fire, there was an awkward silence.
Manny's loud snore broke the quiet.
"Um, so, yea…DO you like me?" Sid's suddenly asked.
Diego smiled inwardly. Resistance was futile with this obnoxious loveable idiot. He finally settled on an answer.
"Yea, Sid, I do."
Sid smiled stupidly. "Okay." He turned back to the scenery, and nothing more was said.