Chapter 50
Straight through the village would be the quickest way out but Creek was not stupid. Going straight would only make him run into a bunch of Smurfs that would get in the way of his escape. Worse than that, they could even hinder him if his pursuer called to them for help.
Before they got to the central area of the village, Creek weaved around mushrooms, never going in any sort of pattern to throw Muscle-Headed Smurf off and not allow him an opportunity to cut him off. The sounds of said Smurf cursing and shouting after him indicated that his plan seemed to be working.
Doing a 180 around a mushroom, Creek allowed himself a smile when Strong Smurf ran right past him. Staying still, he listened to Dumbbell Smurf's movements, stalling as he tried to figure out where Creek went, before running in a direction that was thankfully not towards the exit. That meant that Nitwit Smurf was probably going to get Troll reinforcements and Creek did not have much time to get away before he was forced into surrender by Poppy pouting or Branch simply telling him to.
Going to the outer part of the village, Creek ran where there was the least amount of Smurfs to get in his way. He paused, though, when he spotted one he recognized.
"Clumsy?" Creek called casually.
Turning, Clumsy grinned, "Good morning Creek; good to see you up and about."
"Thank you, good to be up and about," Creek smiled charmingly. "Could you possibly do me a favor?"
"Sure," Clumsy eagerly nodded, "What is it?"
"Could you tell Poppy that I'm heading home?" asked Creek.
"Is that safe?" Clumsy seemed so genuinely concerned, Creek genuinely smiled.
"I came here on my own; I'll be fine," Creek assured him. "Oh, and also please tell Brainy that I'm sorry."
"Sure," Clumsy nodded, then paused, "Sorry about what?"
But Creek had already rushed off, heading for the log he knew would take him out of there. Once he was on the other side he was half tempted to put a weight there to keep the log up on the village side so no one could easily follow him but he had no desire to trap anyone in the village or endanger it so he let the log fall back on its own.
"Good riddance," Creek muttered, rushing forward. He wanted a distance advantage before anyone figured to follow him. Hopefully he'd be back at the Troll Tree by the time they caught up and he could avoid Strong Smurf and his horrible conversation until he was back to himself and had no idea what the Smurf was talking about.
"Good Boy."
Nearly tripping, Creek cursed the voice. Cursed it's timing. Cursed its creepy words. And cursed its very existence. The context to the words that made Creek feel cold to the very essence of his being was not something he wanted or needed to know.
The sound of the log moving caught Creek's attention and he cursed under his breath. He really thought he's have more time. Looking around he went to a random tree off the main path to the wall and quickly went up it with the help of his hair. After being sure he was not sharing his hiding spot with anything, he hunkered down to wait them out. He would just have to do his meditation up there once they had passed him by.
After the log returned to its normal position, there was silence. Whoever came out of the log was not making enough noises for Creek to hear just yet.
When Brainy could not spot Creek or see anything that he thought could be disguised Troll hair, he called out, "Creek?"
Only mildly surprised that it was Brainy who followed him out so quickly, Creek stayed still and silent. There was no way Brainy would be able to climb all the surrounding trees to look for him if the Smurf even thought to try.
"Creek, I know you're out here. Clumsy said you were leaving and you didn't have time to make it to the wall," Brainy called out. "Please come out of hiding, I know you're feeling better but you really shouldn't be trying to go back by yourself; it's dangerous."
Closing his eyes, Creek reached up to cover his ears. The concern in Brainy's voice was just making Creek feel guilty and he was not going back to Smurf Village to have the worst conversation imaginable with the worst Smurf in existence.
When there was no movement that revealed Creek location, Brainy sighed, "Snappy Bug, help me look for Creek, please."
Slipping out of Brainy's hat, Snappy flew out and gave him a salute as she chirped.
Hearing her, Pudgy flew out of Creek's hair.
In the rush to get out of the village, Creek had completely forgotten that the Firefly was there. He tried to grab Pudgy but the Firefly flew out of his reach, heading for the edge of the tree. Taking a deep breath, he tried to softly call out to the fat fellow, "Pudgy, stay."
Pudgy turned back to Creek but heard Snappy's chirping and started to fly away again, almost into where he can be seen.
"Please stay," Creek tried again, "Who's a good Firefly?"
After looking around, Pudgy turned to Creek and seemed to use one of his legs to point to himself and trill softly in question.
"That's right, you are," Creek nodded. "Come back to my hair where it's nice and cozy."
Seeming to smile, Pudgy started back towards Creek.
"Pudgy," Brainy's voice called, "Do you want a cookie?"
Trilling happily, Pudgy dove out of the tree.
"Traitor," Creek groaned, "Should have let him betray me for the Ladybug, that would have stung less than being sold out for a bloody biscuit."
"Creek," Brainy called again, "I know you're in that tree."
Sighing, Creek carefully moved towards the edge. He laid on his stomach to peer down at the Smurf, half noting that Pudgy and Snappy were sitting on the tree roots together as they munched on a shared cookie, "Very clever Brainy, I'll give you that."
"Will you please come down?" Brainy asked, "Whatever Hefty wanted to talk to you about can't be that bad."
"It's about what I've suppressed," admitted Creek, "You know how I feel about that and Nitwit Smurf is that last being I would want to talk to about it, short of a Bergen."
"Then come talk to Therapist Smurf," said Brainy.
"I don't want to know, Brainy," Creek shook his head. "These bits and pieces I keep getting, the voice; it's too much already."
"The voice?" asked Brainy.
"Yes," Creek rubbed over his face, "And I'm done talking about it. My way has worked just fine; I'm feeling better so I can make it go away again."
"What about next time?" asked Brainy. "Or the time after that? Or the time after that?"
Lips thinning, Creek did not answer.
"I don't know why Hefty wants to talk about it but I'm sure he only wants to help," Brainy assures Creek, "It's what Hefty does, he helps. And I just want to help… I don't have the expertise to do it but Therapist does if you'd just give him a chance."
"You've done enough, Brainy, really," Creek sighed. "And I know you have the best intentions but, but I can't; I'm sorry."
Frowning, Brainy looked over the tree. He circled it and found a good foot hold before he started to climb up.
"Brainy, get down before you hurt yourself," Creek moved to better see Brainy but laid on his stomach again to ensure that he wouldn't fall as well.
"Will you come down?" Brainy paused to look up at Creek.
"No," said Creek.
"Will you help me up?" asked Brainy.
"No," repeated Creek.
"Then I'm not stopping," said Brainy, continuing his trek upward.
"Are all Smurfs this stubborn?" Creek rolled his eyes.
"Almost as stubborn as Trolls," Brainy paused to smile cheekily at Creek.
The pure sass in the reply and smile was so unexpected, and, he had to admit, cute, that Creek couldn't help but chuckle and smile a bit, "You really are too much Brainy Smurf."
Blushing, Brainy slid back to the ground but luckily, he wasn't too far up where the slid hurt him. In fact, he easily landed on his feet but stayed still at the bottom.
"Brainy?" Creek called, concerned as to why Brainy wasn't moving.
"I'm sorry Creek," Brainy apologized but didn't look up.
"Whatever for?" Creek blinked, unsure what brought this on.
"I know I agreed to give up if the kiss didn't work but I can't," Brainy said slowly, then looked up, "I like you too much."
"Brainy-" Creek started.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry," Brainy apologized again. He stepped away from the tree and rubbed his face in frustration. "I never should have agreed if I couldn't follow through but I had hoped…"
Sighing, Creek brought up a hand to prop up his face on as he watched the Smurf mentally kick himself, "I didn't exactly leave you much choice."
Turning back, Brainy looked back up at Creek, "I still agreed so I'm sorry. I just, I just can't let go of these feelings for you."
Creek shook his head, "I don't understand why you like me so much. Even if you didn't want to date any of the Smurfs I'm sure there are other Trolls that would love to date you."
"Other Trolls aren't you," stated Brainy.
Unable to help it, Creek huffed a little laugh, "You are ridiculously sweet and very kind, Brainy but I'm not worthy of your efforts. That confidence you said you liked is just smoke and mirrors. I'm always going to be the coward that suppresses things. The idiot that bullied Branch for his attention and an overall jerk on top of that. You're better off forgetting about me."
At first Brainy walked away, Creek thinking maybe he finally got through to the Smurf, but then he walked back, pacing. He nibbled his lower lip and blushed but stopped and looked back up at Creek, "I was drawn to you the first moment I heard you speak."
Creek lifted his head from his hand, looking at Brainy in surprise.
Swallowing, Brain wrung his hands together but smiled to himself, "You're flirty and funny, pretty honest with how you feel most of the time and teasing seems to be more you show affection which is sort of sweet in how you interact with Poppy and Branch. And you say your confidence is smoke and mirrors but you draw Trolls to you without even trying. Every time I tried to speak to you at the Troll Tree my mouth would go dry and my heart would start pounding like it never has before and I couldn't get a word out.
'And like Singer said, I normally have no problem rambling on. When I finally managed to talk you listened, no matter how much I went on and on. And you told off Singer, not once, but twice for me. The first time you said that my experiments made me talk so excitedly and animatedly that it's a bit of a dance all in itself," Brainy smiled a little more, rubbing the back of his neck, "I have never heard anyone compliment my yammering before, not even Papa. And the second time you said Singer owed me an apology and lead me away with your hand on my back and I just felt: cared for.
'Every time you touch me, I just feel warm and I can't explain it or the tingling sensation that's left when you pull away. I like your voice when you're speaking or singing. I like your smile and your laugh. I love them and I want to experience them every day."
Pausing, Brainy looked into Creek's eyes, "I love you."
Covering his eyes, Creek took a deep breath to force back the tears that threatened to form in his eyes. This certainly wasn't his first love confession but it was the only one that ever struck something in him like this. Truly, Brainy had wiggled his way into his heart much further than Creek had realized until that moment but that didn't change the fact that Creek couldn't put a name to this feeling and that Brainy deserved much better.
"Please," Creek finally managed, keeping his eyes covered, "Just give up."
Though Brainy winced, he tried not to take it too hard. He knew Creek was very hesitant about this and it was up to him to convince Creek that it was okay to try. Slowly, he took a few breaths to calm himself, then sang up to Creek, "When I look into your eyes
It's like watching the night sky
Or a beautiful sunrise
Well there's so much they hold."
Hesitantly, Creek lowered his hand to look at Brainy. The Smurf's voice was better this time, still obviously nervous but doing his best to reach Creek with his song.
Brainy continued to sing, smiling a little with Creek watching him, "And just like them old stars
I see that you've come so far
To be right where you are
How old is your soul?"
Slowly, Creek's lips twitched into a small smile.
Walking forward, Brainy went up to the base of the tree and touched it's trunk, never breaking eye contact with Creek, "I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up."
Movement caught Creek's attention though and he looked up, eyes going wide as he looked back down and shouted, "Run Brainy!"
Brainy turned just as Gargamel snatched him up, shouting in surprise.
"Why thank you for that delightful little ditty," Gargamel grinned, "It led me right to you. Now, where is Smurf Village?"