Camo was unable to walk on his own due to the injuries he received from his failed attempt at a fight with the small corgi and his group of fellow friends. Sodo helped the opossum to balance himself as the two walked towards a nearby bench. Camo kept trying to hold his grunts of pain in, but he couldn't help it. He did not expect his body to ache so badly after waking up.
"Don't worry big guy," Sodo told the opossum. "We're almost at a bench. Then you can sit down and relax, okay?"
"Uh huh…" Camo groaned.
Sodo struggled to carry the heavy possum with his arms. It wasn't easy for the hyena to help someone else that was twice his size walk but nonetheless he kept persisting anyway. A long couple of minutes came to pass as the two finally made it to the bench. The two sat down as Camo attempted to calm down in order to feel less pain, which was not working out for him so well.
"How bad is the pain?" Sodo asked.
"Not the worst I've felt, but…" Camo tried to answer. "Y-you know…"
"It still hurts?"
"Yeah."
"I don't know what to do to help."
"Eh, the pain will go away on its own," Camo asked. "Don't worry about it…"
Sodo kept trying to talk to Camo and insisting his aid, but he couldn't spit his words out. Wanting to do something about a situation but lacking the exact thought of what to do was a common experience for Sodo, an experience he's intending to overcome. The stiff hyena eventually gained an answer as to what he could do to help Camo at the very least.
"Hey Cam, your uhh, you left your hot dog back at the bench, and I, er, grabbed it for ya," Sodo informed him calmly. "D-do you want s-"
Camo grabbed the hot dog and threw it across from where he was. "I don't want to eat anything, and don't offer me anything to drink either or I'll throw that garbage away as well!"
"Okay geez, I'm sorry, dude…"
"I don't want to hear no stupid sorries, Sodo!"
"S-sorry…" Sodo trembled quietly.
"What did I just say?!" Camo screamed.
"I'm…"
Sodo didn't decide to pause himself from talking, however. He had questions to ask Camo, and he wanted straightforward answers. The opossum was gone for a couple of minutes and to find him beaten up like a punching bag was shocking.
"Are y-you angry about losing the f-fight?" Sodo stuttered a bit. "You don't need to be angry about it. You lost. So what?"
"That fight meant a lot to me really," Camo scolded. "I'm so embarrassed. I tried my hardest to win but I lost AGAIN. And who knows? Maybe I'll just keep losing to that dumb dog over and over again."
"You gotta stop being obsessed," Sodo stated. "You need to try, at least."
"I know that."
"Then why are you this upset?"
"None of your business as to why I'm mad," Camo growled. "Just leave me alone and go talk to someone else that isn't me."
"It is my business, dude. The fact I had to pick your big furry butt off the ground in front of everyone makes it my business. You got beat up really badly and now you're feeling terrible, too. Not that it's, uhh, anything new for me really to see you so angry at stuff, but I want you t-to talk to me. I'm here for you, dude."
"You're here for me now, but you didn't even want to be around me before. Didn't want me around at all."
"What?"
"Don't play dumb. Er, well, don't play yourself."
"Rude…"
"You just wanted to talk to your friends instead of me. What do they have that I don't? Do you enjoy their company more than you enjoy mine? Because if so I'll leave you alone forever since it looks like you really want that."
"Wha-" Sodo froze. "What are you talking about…?
"Oh my goodness," Camo yelled. "You don't get it, do you? All I wanted was to hang out with you and only you. I didn't want to split up and go to different game booths, I wanted to go wherever you were going. I wanted to talk to you about how our lives are going and all, get to know each other a bit more. But no. You want to talk with your friends after I brought you food and drinks after getting body shamed by a bunch of idiots around the food stand."
Camo grunted in pain once more. His head began to ache very badly, and he wasn't able to pull through with it. Grabbing at his head, he could've sworn he felt veins throbbing under his snow colored fur. He positioned his cap over his eyes since the sight of his surroundings hurt his eyes and his head even more.
"Camo…"
"What?!"
"You need to calm down…"
"Oh so now you're telling me to calm down?" Camo asked aggressively. "First you ask me to split up from you, then you ask me to buy food for you that you didn't even eat, and now you want ME to CALM DOWN?!"
"I don't want you to calm down," Sodo clarified. "I need you to."
Camo mumbled to himself. They sat down in silence for a period of time. Sodo wanted to grab a plush toy from his bag and offer it to the opossum, but he was nervous he would dispose of it just like he did with the hot dog. The hyena broke the silence once again.
"You know, ya could've just, um, talked to me more, and I would've listened. You didn't have to, like, abandon me and stu-"
"ABANDON YOU?!" Camo shouted. His voice made everyone around him pause, looking towards the big possum that made such a sound.
"Keep your voice down," Sodo whispered. "People are looking…"
"Well then let them look then!" the opossum exclaimed. "Because honestly at this point I don't care what others think about me since everyone hates me! And I understand their reasons to."
"Nobody hates you, man," the hyena tried to say with confidence. His tone slowly diminished as the hyena trembled under Camo's presence.
"Oh really? Here, let me tell you about EVERYTHING that happened today. Back home, I told Nono I didn't care about him at all and he went to the living room, and when we left, he apparently started crying. T.O told me and I told him I made Nono cry.
"What…?"
"You heard me," Camo responded. He grabbed the hyena by his sweater, his fists clenching Sodo tightly. "I was loud and clear." Camo's long nails started tearing into his friend's skin, ripping small bits of the hyena's sweater.
"H-hey, wh-what are you doing?" the hyena cried. "Stop!" Sodo pushed Camo away from him and backed up from the towering animal.
"I made Nono cry. And not only that, but he ran away from home, too!"
"W-well, why did you, uhh, why did you say that to him?" Sodo touched the marks Camo had made on him, which stung the moment he interacted with the cuts. "Geez, dude…"
"He was bothering me about the whole carnival thing, so I told him why I couldn't take him to the carnival with me, and he got all angry about it. And then, I said what I said to him…"
"You think that's an excuse to say something like that to him?" Sodo erupted. "What the hell is wrong with you? You could've been nicer about it. You should've been nicer about it..."
Camo was going to continue yelling, but he realized that this fight between him and Sodo would get the both of them nowhere. In addition to that, his chances with Sodo would continue diminishing as a result of this ruckus. He remembered what T.O had told him nearly a week ago about getting too mad.
"Well, for starters, don't get so mad all the time whenever you don't get the chance to act like some outstanding gent."
Camo needed to stop. His head continued to ache, but this time his entire body was aching like madness. Wondering if the anger itself was worsening the suffering he was experiencing, Camo decided to sit down and think of what to say to Sodo.
"I'm sorry, Sodo," the possum apologized. "It's just, I'm not a good person. I've done so many bad things, I've made so many mistakes, and I keep continuing them no matter how hard I try to keep things stable."
"Camo, it's okay."
"No, it's not okay," Camo countered. "I've done so many bad things, and especially today. I made Nono run away from home because I decided to be a big jerk like I always am. I almost got into trouble with that fox I scammed during that car deal we had, and I lost to that corgi. T.O is mad at me for making Nono sad, and Peb is probably mad at me too because T.O told me he was sad about Nono leaving over the phone."
Like earlier, Camo felt as if he wanted to cry. He tried to keep his tears in this time though, not wanting to show Sodo the sensitivity he was experiencing. From the corner of his eye, he was able to see Sodo sitting beside him with a depressed expression, shaking only a little bit. He didn't want to sit in silence for longer because he was nervous about the hyena and how he was feeling. Camo did not like seeing him in fear.
"Everyone hates me…"
"N-no, that's not true," Sodo clarified. "You already said this, don't say that again."
"If it isn't true, then it should be," Camo added on. "Like, T.O and Nono hate me and nobody here seems to like me. Peb probably doesn't even wanna see me, and you're mad at me too."
"What makes you say that?"
"I tore into your skin. Doesn't it… hurt?"
"Only a little, but I'm not mad at you at all," Sodo elucidated. "I'm just a bit disappointed about everything that's happened today. And you know, deprecating yourself the way you are isn't, uhh, it isn't going to make things better."
"I know…"
"Then stop doing that," Sodo patronized. "It's pointless."
Sodo's belligerent comment made Camo feel a bit humiliated. Although, he understood the point his friend was making, so he decided to stop putting himself down. Camo still wanted to properly apologize for the things he did not just to Sodo, but to everyone he had hurt that day. At least, he had the idea of apologizing towards anybody who was willing to listen to what he had to say.
"So…" Camo proceeded.
"Hm?"
"What do we do now?"
"I don't know," Sodo sighed. "I guess we should just go home since it's getting late. It's almost midnight."
"So we're just going to go home?"
"I mean, yeah. Unless you, uhh, had something else in mind? Cause like, I just want to go home. I'm tired, dude."
"Yeah, we could do something."
Camo proceeded to look around to find a place where he and Sodo could attend. None of the arcade games looked interesting to him and the food stands that were lying around weren't open. In addition to that fact, Camo had no money to spare in order to purchase anything.
"Let's just go, dude…" Sodo whispered. He began to walk away from the benches Camo was sitting among.
"Wait!" Camo exclaimed. The opossum spotted a place the two could go to for a while.
"What?"
"How about we go on the ferris wheel?"
Sodo didn't say anything.
"I don't want our day together to end depressingly, Sodo," Camo continued. "I would prefer if our time spent with each other concluded on a lighter note, if you get what I mean. So please, let's go on the ferris wheel. Together."
Sodo stood silent for a moment before speaking what he had in his mind. "Fine, let's go then."
They both walked towards the gigantic ferris wheel residing within the center of the Cloudy Carnival. Camo was tempted to hold Sodo's hand again like he had done earlier but he held back and simply decided not to do so. After the argument the two had, and the fact that Camo tore into the hyena's skin, he thought it would be unfitting for him to even think about grasping his crush's paw. Besides, even if he was to use the excuse of not wanting to get lost within the depths of the crowd, there weren't many people to be around anyway in order for Camo's half truth to work.
Arriving at the ferris wheel, Camo noticed a huge sign standing in front of the ride. The sign had read "PAY $5 OR 10 TICKETS TO RIDE". Unfortunately, Camo did not have any money or tickets with him.
"Do you got any cash on ya left still?" Sodo asked Camo.
"No…"
"Let me see if I got anything. If not, let's just go home."
"Did you bring money with you?"
"I did bring money with me. Had a twenty. You uhh, kinda spent it on food."
"Oh yeah."
Sodo reached deeply into his pant pockets but couldn't find anything in them. "I could've sworn I had some tickets with me."
"How do you even get those?"
"Just spend money at the game booths."
"Pfft."
Digging into the pockets of his black and pink sweater, Sodo managed to find nine spare tickets. He only needed one more. Trying to look around to see if there was anything he could do to get his hands on one more. He couldn't do the game booths at all, but he did spot one crimson ticket on the concrete floor.
"Hey, could you uhh, grab that ticket for me so that way we, um, can go on the ferris wheel?" Sodo politely asked the opossum, who was just standing still in front of the sign.
"Where is it?"
"It's right there on the floor, you see it?"
"Oh yeah." Camo brought the ticket to Sodo, and Sodo walked towards the dingo that was guarding the entrance to the ferris wheel carts. Handing him the ten tickets, the dingo allowed the hyena to enter but closed the gate on Camo immediately.
"What are you doing?" Sodo asked. "He's with me!"
"Five dollars or ten tickets per person," the dingo said with a voice as rough as bricks. "Sorry, I can't let you in."
"Come on, do us a favor at least," Camo begged. "Just let me in, we've had a rough day."
"No, I am not letting you through."
Sodo groaned, deciding to just exit through the gate and stand by Camo. "I'm so sorry."
"It's okay Sodo, it's not your fault," Camo reassured the gloomy hyena.
"Besides, the both of you can't ride on the ferris wheel," the dingo interrupted their moment. "The both of you are so fat y'all would probably bring the entire thing down."
Camo and Sodo looked back at the dingo with blank expressions.
"Excuse me?" Sodo gritted his teeth.
"You heard me."
The hyena threatened the dingo. "You're gonna wish we hadn't."
Aboard a ferris wheel cart, Camo and Sodo sat across from each other. After the quick fight that they put up with the dingo that lasted less than two minutes, the duo breathed heavily, feeling tired from what just happened.
"We put up a hell of a fight, didn't we Sodo?" Camo questioned him.
"Sure was."
"You think he's going to be okay?"
"Who cares if he is?" Sodo laughed. "Let him lie there. Besides, he was still breathing so we're good."
"Well, alright then. If you say so."
"Like seriously, imagine body shaming someone," the hyena scoffed.
The possum noticed Sodo's facial expression, one of which was filled with complete anger and sadness. Camo didn't like seeing Sodo so irritated by something bad that happened to him.
"Are you alright?" Camo asked concerningly. Sodo didn't respond to his question, however.
"Sodo."
The hyena looked up at him. Camo wanted to see his beautiful eyes again but couldn't bear to witness the angst within them.
"Is something wrong?" Camo asked again.
"No, not really, no," Sodo lied. Camo could tell he wasn't being precisely honest with him, and proceeded to make Sodo feel a bit more comfortable about getting things off his chest.
"I'm no mind reader, but I'm positively sure that you're very upset," claimed Camo. "If you have anything you want to say, then please just tell me. It's okay. I'm here for you."
"Of course I'm upset," Sodo clarified. "Everything was going okay. Well, for me, it was. I'm angry at myself about all this."
"Why is that?"
"I was having fun with my friends and I just ignored you," Sodo's voice cracked. "I didn't mean to hurt you and it just, you know… it just pains me to see you like this. I'm sorry about pushing you away."
"I should apologize too," Camo added in. "I shouldn't have tried to beat up that corgi again, especially with his friends out. I wasn't using my brain at all. What I did was stupid. And I'm sorry about hurting you, too. I get that you tried to help me, and I shouldn't have done what I did to you. So I'm sorry. I screwed up so badly today."
"You and me both, b-bud."
"I forgive you, you know," Camo spoke in an instant, almost interrupting Sodo's previous comment.
"Why though?" Sodo confusingly whined.
"Because we all make mistakes sometimes, and sometimes it's okay to forgive others for their mishaps and move on from the event that happened." Camo paused for a moment before speaking again. "And moving on is something I need to work on."
"I agree. Why'd you even bring me to the ferris wheel? Shouldn't you be mad at me or something?"
"I just wanted to end our trip a bit more happily, even if you and I did get body shamed. I just wanted this to be a moment between us, between boyfriends-" Camo paused. He couldn't believe himself. In front of him, he noticed Sodo had froze.
Did I really just say that?
"What?" asked Sodo with a slight blush.
"I didn't mean to say that," Camo clarified. "I meant to say between friends."
"Geez, you must've hit your head pretty hard, huh?"
"Yes, my head hurts a lot," Camo answered. "Might need to take medicine or something. Um, anyways, I brought you here so at the very least we could feel a bit happy."
"I do feel happy and all, it's just uhh, that guy who called you and me fat."
"It's the truth though, is it not? Hehe."
"Yeah, but he said it so rudely," Sodo whimpered. "I'm sensitive about my body, you know? I don't like the way it looks."
"Why not? I think you look great!"
"I mean, I like my body, sorta," Sodo began to explain. "My belly is soft and I kinda like that, but like, at the same I don't. I wish I looked more attractive, like a buff dude. I've been trying to work on my looks, get muscular and all that. But uhh, everything I've tried has shown little to no, err, change."
"It's hard to lose weight," Camo told him. "It requires a lot of effort to be put in. How long have you been trying to get more fit?"
"Few months, but every time I tried it just got too difficult, and I gave up each time."
"You can't give up on that, especially if this is something you really want to accomplish. Even if it's hard, you have to pull through. Get out of your comfort zone, you know?"
"I guess you're right," Sodo agreed. "This isn't the first time I've been made fun of for being fat."
"Believe me, I've been there," Camo reciprocated. "But don't worry, we punched him so bad some of his teeth came out and his nose got twisted the other way. One less body shamer in the world.
"He didn't die, Camo."
"Well, he sure learned his lesson. Couldn't take on the both of us.
"Oh yeah, for sure."
Camo and Sodo fist bumped.
"I have some of his teeth in my pocket, hehe," Camo laughed. "Ya want some?"
"You don't even have to ask."
Camo handed him the teeth. He was going to continue speaking but Sodo had proceeded to sneeze multiple times.
"Are you okay?"
"It's just these stupid allergies that I have," Sodo sniffed, putting the teeth in his sweater pockets. He kept sneezing as the cart arrived at the top. Beside the cart stood a camera that immediately took the picture of the two inside the cart with a bright flash brightening up the scenery.
"Oh god, I wasn't ready!" Camo yelped. "Do you think I looked good?"
"Uhh, probably," Sodo answered. "You always look good. I sneezed in front of the camera as it took the picture, so if anything I probably look bad."
"I'm sure the camera didn't take a picture of that exact moment you sneezed," Camo confidently stated. "So don't even worry about it.
But the camera did take a picture of Sodo sneezing. In the photograph, Sodo appeared as a blur while Camo's eye appeared to have glowed as crimson bright as a blood moon.
"How great does this photo look, dude?" Sodo asked with sarcasm.
"It looks bad," Camo laughed. "I look like a demon."
"You want to get rid of this picture, or..?"
"I'll keep it," Camo insisted. "As terrible as the both of us look, I think this moment is honestly hilarious, to be honest. We'll look back at this one day and have a good laugh."
Camo and Sodo exited the Cloudy Carnival, walking on the complex path leading towards the premises of their comfortable home.
"So, are you feeling better yet, Sodo?"
"Yeah, the ferris wheel was, um, it was actually nice," Sodo smiled. His beautiful smile alone brightened up Camo's mood significantly.
"Glad I was able to help." The possum proceeded to put his arm around the hyena's body. His day may have not gone according to plan, but he appreciated the moment he and his possible love interest were experiencing together. The silence that filled the air didn't make any of them feel awkward either, but the quiet of the night was broken when Sodo spoke up.
"You wanna talk or somethin'?" Sodo offered.
"Hm?"
"I didn't talk to you earlier because I was busy talking with my other friends since they were there," Sodo continued to talk. "And uh, since you and I are alone, maybe we can talk about what I was conversing with my friends about earlier. Was there anything during our conversation that interested you?"
"Well, I thought your friends were rather peculiar," Camo said. "Uhh, what were their names again? Kyle and Sori?"
"Pile and Cori," Sodo giggled. "Pile is a heavy sleeper who likes to do art and basically vibe out. Cori is rather the same, except I don't think he does art? He gets easily distracted by things though, like bright colors and objects that spin. Especially objects that spin."
"Did they go home once you came looking for me?"
"Uhh, sorta?" Sodo guessed. "Pile fell asleep on the bench and I tried to wake him up, and uhh, he got a bit mad. So I let him be. As for Cori, I think he went somewhere else in the carnival. He never came back and you were gone so I went to go look for you."
"Was there anything interesting you guys talked about?"
"Pile told me a story that happened at work which I'm pretty sure you overheard," Sodo speculated.
"Yeah, I did."
"Ehh, I'm sorry if I stay quiet for a while. I'm just trying to remember what I was like, talking about with my friends."
"It's okay," Camo ensured. "I'll give you time."
"Okay so there was this story I wanted to tell my friends but I couldn't cause Pile fell asleep and Cori went away," Sodo reflected. "It was like a very old story of an elderly couple who have feared death all their life, and now that it's lurking upon them, they're frightened now more than ever."
"What kind of couple?" Camo asked shyly.
"Uh, I just said an elderly couple," Sodo yawned.
"No, I meant like, were they a man and woman dating?" Camo corrected himself. "Or two guys? Or maybe even two women? I'm just asking, nothing weird or anything, hehe…"
"It was an old man and an old woman," Sodo replied. "So basically they were afraid of death, and while they're trying to enjoy their last moments by a lake the old man finds a coin with a skull on it. This exact coin right here."
Sodo presented the coin to the astonished opossum.
"Oh was that the coin you were showing to your friends?"
"Yup."
"Where did you say you found it?"
"By the lake we're passing by right now."
Camo took a glance towards the lake he once saw in the dream he had about a week ago. Every detail that was shown within his dream state, Camo had managed to remember each and every single one. There was the pathway he and Sodo walked upon and held hands in. There was the dock where many wooden boats and paddles resided. And then there was the lake itself, its water appearing as black as the starry night sky above them.
"So the old couple was by the lake?"
"Yes, and from the middle of a pond emerged some beautiful ferryman on one of those boats as soon as the coin was picked up by the old man. The boat was like, covered in gold and all that I think. The ferryman offered to the elderly couple a life of eternity within the vastness of the lake."
"And what did they say?"
"They accepted it of course, since they did not want Death to get his hands on any of them. They were literally willing to sacrifice their own lives for the other in case Death did linger."
"Aww, that's so sweet," Camo complimented what the hyena had to say. "I wish someone loved me that much."
"I'm sure you'll find somebody," Sodo advocated. "You're a gentleman, right? People like men that are gentle. You just gotta like, you know, work on improving your character a bit more. If you get what I mean."
"I do get it."
"Don't take what I'm saying as offensive, I'm just saying what needs to be said is all."
"No, I understand perfectly," Camo demonstrated. "I know I need to start acting like a better person. Be more patient. Anyways, is there more to the story? I'm actually rather interested to hear more, if there is more to be told, that is."
"There is actually," Sodo verified. "So the ferryman asks the old couple to dance into the lake and so they do just that. They start dancing on the water as their spirits are cast out of their body and into the lake. While they danced, the water was casting out this beautiful aura and the elderly couple was able to see other spirits dancing together as well. The imagery itself sounds so nice I've been trying to draw it for a while now."
"That was such a good story, Sodo!" exclaimed the opossum. "Are there any more stories that you got?"
"Not really bro, sorry."
"Eh, it's alright. So about those drawings, do you have any pictures of them on your phone?"
"Uhh, I would show them to you right now, but my battery is kinda dead. I had to ask someone if they could tell me the time, and they uhh, did just that, albeit a bit harshly. It kinda made me feel sad."
"Damn, there were just a bunch of jerks there, huh?" Camo reacted irritatingly.
"Yeah, I don't know if I wanna go there again or not."
"Well, look on the bright side," Camo told him optimistically. "There's a bunch of cute plush toys we can collect, and the food there is actually great. And we can take the ferris wheel together if you'd like again since the cart didn't actually break, hehe."
"Haha, yeah," Sodo laughed. "You know, I can show you the drawings when we get home so you can see 'em up close if you'd like."
"Of course I'd like that! I'd also enjoy hanging out with you more like this if you want."
"Uhh, sure," Sodo laughed again. "I'm not used to having a hangout buddy like this. No one talks to me much like you do, and uhh, I don't talk a lot either."
"Well, you better get used to it whenever I'm around," Camo advised him. "Next time, you want to hang out at the lake or something? Whenever you want to go, I'll try my best to see if I can come with you."
"Depends on how busy your schedule might be," Sodo said. "You know, with scamming all those people and such."
"Well, until I can find anyone else that's dumb enough to actually purchase the worn out vehicles in the back, then I think my schedule will be a bit more open."
"Sounds great, bud."
Expectedly, another moment of silence emerged. Only this time, Camo was the one to shatter the moment.
"You wanna hear something I noticed about you?" Camo said.
"What?"
"I noticed you didn't stutter as much when telling me that story of yours."
"Well, maybe that's just because I like talking with you. And maybe I'm starting to get comfortable talking with somebody else."
Despite the frown that emerged immediately on the hyena's face, Sodo placed his arm around Camo the same way the possum put his arm around the hyena. Camo laid his head on top of the hyena's as the two enjoyed the walk they were taking in the night.
The best friends arrived at the doorstep of their comfortable home. The position they held while walking changed as Camo proceeded to unlock the door using a key hidden under the dirt colored rug outside of the door. As the two entered, the house appeared very dim, with no lights turned on and nobody else to be seen or heard from. Not even a single Raggoon peeked around the corner of the hallway.
"It's so dark in here I can see your eyes glowing, dude," Sodo commented.
"Yeah, yours are glowing too," Camo returned. "I guess everyone went to sleep. I think I know why, too."
"Because of what happened with Nono earlier today?"
"Yup…"
"Hey don't sweat it bud," Sodo tried to cheer him up. "I'm sure he'll come back soon, okay?"
"If you say so, bud."
Camo and Sodo walked into the dark hallway. The hyena ran towards his bedroom door but stubbed his toe against the wall, causing him to laugh in pain.
"Oh no!" Camo exclaimed. "Are you okay, dude?" He placed his hands on the hyena's shoulders.
"Yeah, it's fine," Sodo hissed. "God dammit, that hurts. Ugh, my toenail broke."
"How do you know?"
"Cause like, my toenail ain't there anymore."
"Oh."
Sodo went inside his room, limping towards his bed.
"You can come into my room if you'd like, dude."
"Oh really?" Camo gasped. "Are you sure you want me to come in?"
"I'm sure."
Camo stepped into the hyena's living space, which unfortunately didn't smell as great as it room nonetheless was decorated nicely yet very different from what Camo expected Sodo's room to look like. There were wallpapers of heavy metal bands but there were also stickers of cute fruits on the wall as well. On Sodo's bed, there was a huge teddy bear that had an amber glow in the dark stick wrapped around his neck and a heart shaped pillow with a smiley face on it. His closet was filled with different varieties of clothing, plush toys, and pride flags Sodo has most likely collected over the years.
Camo was interrupted however by Sodo asking him a question. "So, what do you think?"
"Your room smells like garbage," Camo teased.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes."
Sodo rubbed his face against the opossum's clothes and face.
"Hey, what gives?" the possum coughed.
"Now you get to smell my smell forever," Sodo snickered mischievously. "Haha."
"Jokes on you, I'm getting used to your smell anyway," Camo responded. 'Besides, your room looks very lovely."
"Thank you."
The possum continued to look around. There was a small table beside Sodo's bed where a magenta lava lamp stood, lighting up the entire room with a purple shade. In front of Sodo's bed, there was a larger table where a big computer was, with a keyboard, mouse, and headphones. Next to it were some sketchbooks, anime styled cards, pieces of clay, styrofoam mannequin heads, and a steampunk-like music box with a steampunk rubber hose character wearing a sailor outfit. Up above the computer resided a variety of different, decorative masks.
"Are these like notebooks where you make your drawings in?"
Sodo didn't respond. All he returned was a small nod. He left the bedroom and went straight to the kitchen. Camo looked through the sketchbook and saw dozens of fascinating artworks. Different variations of animal skulls were sketched through some of the pages, as well as backgrounds and unique characters that Camo has never seen before. Sodo, who held several bottles of beer in hand trying to make sure he didn't drop any on the floor, returned to his bedroom just in time to receive Camo's compliments.
"These characters are cool, Sodo!"
"You like 'em?"
"Yeah, some of them are cute," Camo critiqued. "And others are kind of attractive, hehe."
"I feel you," Sodo supported. "The cute ones are cute. And my attractive ones, uh, well, I kinda like, simp for them. Don't tell anyone that though."
"What does "simp" mean?"
"Basically, a word that insults people who are too attentive for somebody else, hoping for reciprocated feelings that will never happen," Sodo explained.
"That sounds bad."
"It is bad," Sodo said. "But like, towards fictional characters, I guess it's okay. The way I used the word wasn't meant to be insulting. I suck at explaining things, so I'm just gonna stop talking. The Internet would offer you a better definition."
"Why do you "simp" for your characters?" Camo asked as he made air quotes with his fingers when mentioning the word "simp".
"Honestly, if you don't simp for your own characters, then what's even the point?" Sodo responded. "If you wanna see a visual representation of a simp, just join the Breeze Discord Server. A majority of the community is filled with 'em."
"Um, okay then," Camo said, weirded out by what he was talking about. "I don't want to be affiliated with Breeze in any way, so I'm going to have to decline that offer. Thank you very much, though."
"The server simps a lot for you, ya know?" Sodo drank some of his beer.
"Oh?" Camo's ears perked up. "Do they now?"
"Indeed."
"Are you a part of the server?"
"Yeah, I've never talked there though," Sodo answered. I've only lurked there, but I've seen what a bunch of 'em had to say. There's this hugger guy who especially loves you."
"Might reconsider my decision then," Camo smiled. "It's crazy how you know all these things though."
"That's the power of fourth wall breaking, baby," Sodo laughed raspily. Camo laughed alongside him too.
Sodo sat down against his small table with the alcoholic beverages he possessed, putting his headphones on plugged into a cassette player so he could listen to some tunes. He placed the teeth residing within his pocket onto the small table next to his bed. Camo continued skimming through the papers, noticing different artworks. He saw a work in progress that was the scenery of the story Sodo told him earlier, and on the page after it, he saw a drawing of the entire Criterion. However, Sodo was carrying a cardboard box filled with Chibi versions of Raggoons, as well as Chibi versions of Nono, T.O, Peb, and Camo.
"Awww bud, this is so adorable!" Camo yelled. "I didn't know you drew us before."
"Yeah, I did."
"I really love this, bud."
Camo looked down at the hyena, who was wiping some tears away coming out of his eyes. The hyena chugged an entire bottle of alcohol and proceeded to open the second one.
"Sodo?" asked the possum. "What's wrong?" He immediately sat down beside him and put his paws on the hyena's face, rotating his head towards him. He took the opened bottle of beer away from the hyena.
"It's nothing," Sodo answered. "I still feel bad about what happened earlier. I know what it's like being ignored, you know? And to think I hurt someone like that today, somebody I care about a lot. I never meant to hurt you. And to make that feeling worse, that stupid dingo..."
But he couldn't continue what he had to say. He began crying a bit. "I'm sorry…"
Camo put one end of Sodo's headphones onto his ear, partially being able to hear the music that was emitting from his cassette player. The song that was playing had nice lyrics and had a melody that was a mixture of a somber sound yet possessed a bittersweet, nostalgic tune. The song was called "Dreaming About You".
"Hey bud, it's okay," Camo hugged him tightly. "You don't have to be sorry about a thing, okay? I know that these feelings hurt badly. I got body shamed twice today, and I've been ignored by others before, too. Except, unlike you, they didn't actually care about me. Only you do, and I appreciate that a lot. I appreciate you a lot. Never forget that, friend."
Sodo hugged Camo back tightly. "Thank you."
The two continued to embrace each other, hugging longer than a normal person would usually do. But then again, Camo and Sodo weren't normal people. The fact didn't bother them though. They were just happy to have each other comforting the other.
"You feeling a bit better yet bud?"
"Yeah, I do. Thank you."
"This song is really nice," Camo suddenly changed the topic. "I like this song."
Author's note: I wrote the song. :)
"Yeah, it's very underrated," Sodo said, pausing for a moment before he continued speaking. "He hasn't released anything in a while but I do wonder what his next songs are gonna be like."
Camo nodded, lacking anything to add to the conversation.
"I've always wanted to write and sing songs myself, ya know?" Sodo stated.
"Really?"
"Mhm."
"What kind of songs would you sing, Sodo?"
"Songs about rebellion and personal problems others could relate to," Sodo said confidently. "Ya know, like this guy."
"If you ever make any songs, I'd be happy to listen to them."
"Thank you. What kind of songs would you do, Camo?"
"Being in love, first off," Camo claimed. "I might write songs about personal problems too. Get things off my chest."
"That'd be nice to listen to," Sodo accoladed. "Would be nice to hear your venting through songs."
"Venting?"
"Getting feelings that are bothering you off of your chest basically," Sodo summarized. "You know, kinda like what we did right now."
"Oh, I see. What kind of things did you vent about?"
"Abandonment issues, anxiousness about talking with others, etcetera."
"We should vent to each other more often since talking to someone can help a person out a lot," Camo offered.
"Yeah, I'd like that," Sodo appreciated. "I'll vent about anything if I'm comfortable enough. Lack of confidence, things I find irritating, situations I struggle with, past relationships, and much more. Like uhh, loneliness and stuff. I don't know, I've never vented to anyone before."
"You've had past relationships before?" Camo asked, surprised.
"Yes, and they did not go well," Sodo began to elucidate.
"What kind of relationships?"
"A few people, female, male, outside of that. It was just bad and I really hate talking about it. They didn't even feel like relationships at all since none of them even wanted to kiss me or be around me. Ugh. Idiots…"
"I can feel your pain, you know?" Camo sympathized. "I used to speed date, ask others out, but they either said no or didn't want anything to do with me at all. I want to kiss somebody. But not just anybody. I want to kiss somebody I care about." The opossum started feeling down too, and decided to take a sip of the alcohol as well. The liquid made his throat feel a burning sensation, but Camo kept drinking a bit more despite the uncomfortable feeling.
"I do too."
None of the two wanted to say anything. The mere mention of their past love life simply angered their minds. At the very least, they tried not to think about it at all, deciding to occupy their minds with something lighter and more positive. The both had gotten a bit tipsy as they continued drinking more beverages. Sodo's thoughts had seemed to evolve into something rather odd and peculiar based on the sudden facial expressions he was making. And his thoughts were peculiar indeed.
"Do you wanna kiss me?" Sodo asked.
Camo was completely shocked by the question. He blushed to the point where his face felt as hot as fire.
"Only if you want to, of course," Sodo added in.
The opossum did not want to appear weirded out at all since he didn't want to hurt the hyena's feelings. In addition to this, he wanted to kiss him. Or, to write this more truthfully, he wanted to try to kiss him, and see how he felt about it, examining if he truly possessed strong feelings for his friend.
"I, uh, I will think about it. I will sleep on your offer for a while."
"Alright. Sorry if the question bothered you.
"No, it's fine, don't worry! Don't worry..."
An hour had passed as Camo and Sodo had snuggled together while listening to music. This was the longest moment of silence the two had ever had. The only noises emitted by them were the gulps they took when drinking more of the bottles of beverages, and the two had most likely become rather drunk. Camo wanted to tell Sodo something. Anything. He just wanted him to feel good. Even if he felt alright now, Camo wanted to aim for better. Since Sodo was starting to doze off a bit, Camo took this as the opportunity to help his friend out in a vocal sense.
"Sodo."
"Hm?"
"I know I don't say this much, but I do care a whole awful lot about you guys," a drunk Camo began to express his thoughts. "I don't say that enough because I'm nervous you guys won't take me seriously and will just make fun of me like others have done in the past. But I do want you to know this. I need to be more open about my feelings, and I love you guys. And even though what happened today took a bad turn, I just want you to know that people are always going to judge you no matter what, whether they do it openly, behind closed doors, or silently. And honestly, why should we care about what they have to say? So what if we're a bit overweight? So what if we have different preferences in the things we like? At the end of the day, their opinions do not matter because although they might call us ugly, that says more about them than it does about us. We need to strive to be as happy as we possibly can be in this life, and if people want to take that happiness away from us because they're selfish and greedy, then screw them. Let's just ignore those idiots together from now on."
Sodo was completely speechless. All he could do was just look at the possum's eyes. And that's all Camo could do as well. They just looked at each other for a short while before Sodo finally spoke.
"Yeah, let's just ignore them," Sodo agreed. "Why focus on people who want you to fail when you can be around those who care about you? Like the person in front of me right now, for instance."
The hyena placed his paw on the possum's shoulder after finishing his sentence.
"Yeah." Camo put both of his bandaged paws on the hyena's shoulders.
They both looked at each other once more.
"Oh," Camo thought to himself, barely noticing he was staring at the hyena once more.
"Oh."
Camo thought to himself once more.
"I truly have fallen in love... haven't I?"
And in an instant, Camo and Sodo had shared their first kiss with each other. Although they saw each other as friends, Camo viewed the hyena he was making out with more than that. Who knows what thoughts were rushing through the hyena's mind?
It was all rather surprising, really. Camo wanted to take things slow, but here they were now. Possessing no idea as to why they were doing this, they simply continued their kiss until they ran out of breath, looking at each other in complete shock.
"Why the hell did we do that?" Sodo asked loudly.
"I-I, I don't know," Camo stammered.
The two continued breathing heavily against each other.
"So, you decided to kiss me, huh?"
"I guess so. We're drunk, aren't we?"
"I think so, I think. Do you… do you wanna keep going, though? I kinda liked it..."
"Yeah..."
Sodo placed his paws on the possum's face, which had reeked of the odor of sulfur dioxide he had rubbed his face against Camo's, bringing his face towards his so they could kiss again. Camo pulled Sodo onto him as well, landing on the floor as he did so. To Camo, it felt like that dream he had at the lake, and everything about their moment together felt so similar to it, too. The empty bottles of beer had fallen down as Camo and Sodo enjoyed the growing tension, and there was no denying that at all.
Camo's mind was completely racing all over the place. He didn't expect to have his first kiss that night, and he definitely did not expect the romance that was to occur a few moments afterwards. Nonetheless, his day didn't go according to plan, yet it all worked out in the end. Or made out, you could say.
And the best part about all of this? This time, Camo wasn't dreaming.