Naz wanted to get Ancom's mind off of Ancap, whom que still hadn't worked up the courage to call. So he decided to start a project, one that both of them would like.
Ancom always talked about weeds and plants, so Naz decided on an indoor garden. It was a constant winter in his home of the far north- nothing except potatoes and tundra grasses survived outside. To Naz, it was the best place ever. He loved snow. But Ancom always whined about the cold, as que was from the southwest. The south was a land of "beautiful plants and stuff", to quote quem.
"How do you not freeze?" que always whined. "I swear, I'm going to get frostbite."
Speaking of Ancom, there que was, laying face-down on the couch and waving quis legs around in the air. Naz shut the door behind himself, carrying a bag of seeds in one hand and a box of potting soil in the other.
"Hey, I'm home!"
No response.
"Ancom," Naz tried, placing the box down. "I have something fun we can do together!"
"You can start it," the anarchist grunted. "I'm busy."
"Busy doing what?"
No response again.
"You alright?"
Naz walked over, less spring in his step than usual, to Ancom. Que was pressing a pillow to quis face, hugging it tightly.
"Hey, I'm worried 'bout you."
He sat down near Ancom's knees, forcing the anarchist to curl up and finally sit up. Que was still looking away from Naz, but he guessed that was okay. Maybe que was just going through a rough time right now. Maybe Naz just needed to give him space.
"So," he started. "I remembered you liked plants…"
Que shrugged and leaned back. For the first time today, Naz saw Ancom's face, and it was horrible. It looked like there were smoke stains all over quis face, and qui smelled of skunk. Quis eyes were pink, though que didn't look like que had been crying. That was odd. In fact, the whole combination really confused Naz. Maybe it was better not to ask.
"Anyways." He coughed; the smoky stench coming from Ancom really didn't cater to his senses. "I remembered you liked plants, so I bought us a gardening kit!" All thoughts forgotten, Naz bounced around till he located a good dish for the plants. Ancom sat up from the couch with a grunt, following him into the kitchen where he grabbed a broken pan, the size one would make a large lasagna in, from a drawer.
"Always thought this would come in handy," Naz chirped to himself.
Whatever was going on in Ancom's head seemed to have cleared itself up. Que helped Naz put the soil into the dish, then poke holes in the dirt for seeds. Ancom preferred randomly spaced holes, while Naz opted for orderly lines. Eventually the two clashed, but they sorted out the difference after a while.
"I like nature because it's random," murmured Ancom as que spilled half a packet of chives everywhere but in a single one of the holes.
"Hm?" asked Naz. Ancom had seemed weird today, in a constant state of disconnect, bumping into things rather than being alert, and leaving cryptic answers to simple questions.
"You can't really tell it what to do. Plants just go… wherever, I guess." Que waved an arm in the air, bumping a cup of water over. "Oops." Naz scurried for a sponge.
"Actually, I like it because it follows rules," Naz replied thoughtfully as he mopped up the mess. "Order in the madness. Somewhere, entropy is doomed to repeat itself. If chaos is everywhere, then chaos is order."
"Woah, where'd you get that from?"
Naz shrugged. "Comic I read."
They continued planting the seeds, conversing about nature. Eventually, they finished, and Ancom wandered back over to the couch. Naz followed suit.
"How did you even get this house, anyways?" Ancom asked.
"Oh, well…" Naz trailed off. "It's kinduva long story, y'know?"
"I've got time."
As Ancom made quemself comfortable, Naz bounced over to the kettle and heated up some water. After a few minutes, he poured it into two mugs with cocoa powder. He stirred them up, added ten marshmallows to each cup (Naz could never have too many), and carefully walked over to Ancom.
"So basically," Naz started, "my parents, well, didn't like each other too much."
"Aww," frowned Ancom, hugging Naz.
"When I was super young, they got, like, joint custody. I spent the school year in the northwest, and the summer in the northeast. It was nine months to three months, and I guess that's why I turned out more of a leftist. My dad- well, one of them- was a leftist."
"You had two dads?"
"Yeah," muttered Naz in shame. "I hated every second of it."
"And is that why you hate gay people now?"
Naz shrugged. "Probably."
"You do know that they aren't all like that? And most of them don't hate each other. They love each other."
"I guess…"
"Anyways, sorry for interrupting."
"So about a month ago, both of them just left. They bought me this house here, gave me a card for buying what I needed, and then, well, I dunno where they went."
"And you're only, what, 12?"
"Yeah." Naz snuggled into Ancom, who enveloped him with quis hoodie. Que was warm and reminded him of love, something that he hadn't experienced for so long. "I never even knew their names…"
"What were they like?"
Naz yawned and took a sip of his cocoa. "They were both cold, but that was all they had in common. So I want to be different. I want to be warm."
"That's really, really nice of you, Naz," Ancom responded, ruffling his hair. "Most people internalize their broken childhoods and turn them into hate. But all I've seen from you is love."
"You really think so?"
"Yeah."
"Good, because I never want to be like them." Naz shuddered, spilling a bit of cocoa on himself. It burnt, and he yelped a bit, but settled back against Ancom. "The leftist one was big, like a bear. He tried to love me, but he thought I was too much like my other dad. But the rightie wasn't any better. He kept on telling me I was a dirty commie, and he was glad he only had me for three months." A tear leaked from his eye. He didn't like to remember this stuff, but he felt glad that Ancom was here for him. Que felt comforting, like a cousin or older sibling.
"Where did they go? Did they tell you anything?"
"Yeah. They said they had a project. I think it was called…" Naz scratched his head. "The Center-side?"