After a couple of days to a week, Cross was already doing a lot better at protecting himself, and could even sometimes end up hitting Trent! Weakly, but still, it was better then when he first started! Cross, after seeing the conditions Trent lived in, he went out, buying him some food and dog food, as well as a proper dog bed. Cross had them all in a bag, and when he made it to Trent's place to hang out on their day off from training. He had the bag in hand and put in the code for the door, and walked in, smiling. "Yo, Trent! I got a present for you!" He chuckled after a moment when he was greeted by the small puppy, rubbing his ears. "Hey buddy~" He pressed the button that closed the door, seeing Trent approaching him with a confused expression.
"Present? Really? You don't need to spend money on me man, I'm fine." He sighed. "But, what'd you get?" He asked, curious.
Cross smiled, handing him the bag. "I saw how you were living and decided to do something to help you out~" He explained as Trent opened the bag, eyes widening.
"Damn! You spent all this money?" He blinked, taking out a couple of the things in the bag. The dog bed, dog food, all of it was amazing! "T-Thank you! I.. no one has ever done anything nice for me.." He smiled, looking up at him. "Thanks so much, man~ Guess you aren't so bad, huh?" he laughed lightly, and grabbed a bowl, putting the bowl down next to the dog's water bowl, filling it with the dog food. "eat up boy~" He says kindly as the dog immediately stuffed his face into the bowl, eating like he hadn't eaten anything in months, which in some ways, was true. Trent smiled softly as he watched his best friend eat. "Yeah, enjoy it buddy~"
Cross smiled in happiness at him doing a good thing. After all, he did need to return a favor for Trent agreeing to training him to protect himself. He owed Trent a lot. "oh! Trent, I was wondering, would you ever want to maybe, come over to my place?" He asked, cheeks turning a light pink.
Trent looked up from his puppy and looked at him surprise. "Really? Me?" He acted like as if he had never been invited to anything before! Maybe.. he never has..?
Cross nodded. "Yeah! Of course! You are my friend.. right?" He sounded hopeful and doubtful at the same time especially when he saw Trent's eyes narrow.
Trent was quiet for a moment before his expression softened and he smiled softly, nodding. "Yeah, of course we are man~" he chuckled, walking up and patting his shoulder. "Come on, let's go hang out at the arcade or something, alright?" He laughed lightly in content. And then they left, walking down the street towards the arcade. Cross though suddenly tensed and gasped, turning around and grabbing his hand. "Come on, how about we go arou-"
"Hey! It's that Cross-Loser!" A boy laughed in a mocking tone, other snickers and laughter of a few other boys ringing out from a couple feet away.
Cross froze in his tracks with Trent, gulping hard. He felt a arm wrap around his shoulder and murmured softly. "Please go away.."
The boy scoffed and in a fake-offended tone, putting a hand to his chest said, "why that's no way to treat your good friends!" he snickered afterword along with the other boys.
Trent growled, and pushed him away from Cross. "Leave him alone, Tanner, this doesn't concern you. Get the fuck out of here!" He glared with clenched teeth at him.
"ohoho! So Mr. Fancy-Loser-Pants had a body guard now? Well then~ Ain't that nice?" He grinned. "Why don't you move aside so we can have our fun with our favorite boy? Hmm?" he laughed, before suddenly crying out in pain as a hard punch was thrown at his face by the brunette.
"I said. Get out of here!" Trent yelled, kicking him in the nuts to let him fall to the ground groaning. The other two boys growled, glaring at him and ran towards him, one throwing a punch to Trent's cheek, Trent only grunting in pain. Trent then huffed and spit out some blood before upper cutting the boy to the ground next to the other. Two down, one to go. Trent glanced behind him, and quickly and swiftly swung his leg around, knocking the feet up from under the boy going towards him, the boy stumbling into the small pile of the three boys. Trent then turned to them and spit on them. "Now get out of here." He growled sternly, the three quickly stumbling to their feet and running off.
Cross was frozen, eyes wide in amazement, staring off into space as thoughts of what just happened ran through his head. "wow… Trent that was… amazing! You saved me!" he ran up to him, eyes bright and face a bright red. "Thank you so much! You're a life-saver!"
Trent frowned, patting his head. "yeah, yeah, are those the boys who usually bother you?" He asked seriously, staring into his eyes. "Tell me the truth."
Cross whimpered slightly and looked away, frowning. "W..Well….y..yeah…" he answered softly, closing his eyes. "They always have.."
Trent nodded a bit in understanding. "I see… well, don't worry, we'll make sure those losers fear you- alright?" he chuckled, patting his friend's shoulder once again and began to walk with him. "Come on~ let's go to that arcade!~" he says, offering a friendly smile.
Cross perked up a bit and smiled back, nodding and quickly walking along side with him. "Yeah!~"
Another few days had passed and Trent was doing well helping his friend. Cross was chilling on the couch, having a day off from training and were listening to the radio. Trent was next to his dog, rubbing his ears as the puppy ate. "Yeah… you're all nice and full now aren't you? Ever since nice old Cross began to come over.. huh?" he chuckled, smiling down at his dog.
Cross sighed as Trent sat down next to him, looking down at the ground, before turning to him. "Hey? Trent?"
Trent glanced at him. "yeah, runt?~" he teased, smiling playfully.
Cross chuckled before his smile faded and he looked down. "Hey uh.. I was wondering…have you ever….had a friend?"
Trent was a bit taken back by the question and looked down as well. "Well…I uh…" He paused for a long moment, becoming lost in thought. No. He had never had a friend in his life. "Well…no.. not really…only my dog…" He says softly, looking away more.
Cross's expression softened and he sighed, putting a hand on his shoulder. "hey…. It's alright.. I…I have never really had real friend's before actually, I just…I well, I have people who think their my friends when really they only want to get money or fame for knowing me." He admitted sadly, and looked down. "I.. I'm your friend though…right..?" he asked, titling his head a bit forward to look at him more clearly.
Trent's eyes widen and he looked at him, cheeks a light red. "F…Friend..? r….right.." He smiled slowly, eyes softening. "Right.. Friends~" he sighed, hugging his friend tightly. "Thanks man.. you're a really good friend.. no matter what anyone says. "I will always be your friend, my only friend~"
Cross tensed, not expecting the hug AT ALL coming from him but sighed, and hugged back, smiling a bit. "No problem, friends for life." He held his friend for a bit before pulling back and smiled. "Friend's for life."
Trent nodded and smiled back, his cheeks a light pink as he stared at his friend. "come on.. let's head out for today, okay?"
Cross nodded. "Yeah.. okay~"