The sky was darkening and Roger was just readying himself to head back to camp when Maurice popped out of the trees, latching onto his arm like a particularly hard-to-get-off leech. Roger sighed and began to work at untangling his arm.
"Watcha doin'?" Maurice asked, ignoring Roger's attempts to push him away. Roger didn't answer him. "Rogerrr…"
"I'm going back to camp," Roger snapped. "Jack will be pissed if I'm not awake when he goes to try to catch a pig tomorrow. I'm the best he's got."
"But you're so little," Maurice said. He was still attached to Roger. "I would think that someone like Bill would be the best."
"Bill's too stupid," Roger said. "Anyways, size isn't everything. You've got to be quick. And merciless." He stabbed his spear at the ground for emphasis. Maurice jumped out of the way to avoid being stabbed in the foot and Roger grinned.
"Roger," Maurice said abruptly. "Do you think we're ever going to get home?"
Roger paused. He looked at Maurice, who looked back at him like he had the answers to everything. Roger, not wanting to think about it too much, shrugged. Maurice sighed.
"Roger…" he complained. "That's not an answer."
"Well, what do you want to hear?" Roger asked. "That we're going to be picked up by a friendly plane tomorrow? That we're going to go home and everything's going to go back to normal? Because it's not. Even if we do get rescued, there's a war going on."
"You could be optimistic," Maurice mumbled, eyes cast toward the ground. Roger snorted and finally managed to pull away from him. "I mean, even if we can't go home for a while –"
"This is home now," Roger said. "I like it. It's fun. Don't you think it's fun?"
"Yeah, but…" Maurice looked like he was going to start crying. "I… I miss my bed and Da talking about the patients and the asylum and my dog and my books and-"
"And do you miss school? Having to sing those stupid songs over and over? Having to act a certain way so you won't get thrown into those asylums? Here we're…" Roger groped for the right word; he hadn't talked this much in a while and the words were escaping him. "Here we're free," he finished lamely.
At this Maurice did burst into tears and clutched Roger, burying his head in Roger's chest and sobbing. Roger, totally unsure what he should do in this situation, stood there awkwardly, wondering how far he would make it if he pushed Maurice and ran.
Eventually he just got annoyed and pushed Maurice over anyway. "What're you crying for?" he asked. Maurice looked up at him, face streaked with tears and nose running. He was a mess.
"I… I…" he dissolved into tears again. Roger whacked him with his spear and Maurice shied away, rubbing at his eyes furiously. Roger crouched down, grabbing onto Maurice's chin and forcing him to look Roger in the eyes.
"Look," Roger said. "Calm down. This island, it's like… it's like a vacation. Sure, a vacation is away from the good stuff, but it's a vacation from the bad stuff too. We'll be… fine."
Maurice was shaking in Roger's grip, looking like he was going to try and hug Roger. Rooger got ready to pull away, just in case he had to run away fast. Maurice didn't hug him, though, and Roger relaxed, letting go of Maurice's chin but staying where he was. Maurice swallowed, once, twice, nearly started crying again, and finally calmed down. Roger stood up and held out his hand. Maurice lookd at it doubtfully.
"What?" Roger snapped. "I'm helping you up, don't sit there like an idiot."
With that, the smile was back on Maurice's face as he pulled himself up using Roger's arm. His surperior weight nearly pulled Roger to the ground, but eventually they both stood, Maurice still clutching his arm in a pose eerily remiscent of earlier. Roger sighed, and Maurice let go of him.
"C'mon, Roger, Jack'll be pissed if we're not awake when he wants to go for his pig hunt!" Maurice said cheerfully, skipping away.
Headcanon was mentioned in Healing but yeah headcanon that Maurice's mom is dead and his dad runs an insane asylum but uh yeah this is the crappy little rogice(ish?) oneshot I wrote at BAIT camp which was great BAIT camp is great I love BAIT camp