Hiiiiiiii… Byyyyyyye…

sssssssssss

Reep simply stared at the little cupboard his smeet was hiding in. He had decided after more than an hour after his outburst that the smeet was in real terror and that by being close, but without contact, it would benefit the both of them.

So he was on the kitchen floor at the moment, cross-legged and leaning forward to hear Eleven's soft sobs. Reep's antennae laid flat on his head, his elbows resting on his knees to keep him propped up and his eyelids were drooping slightly in boredom.

A shuffle from inside the cupboard made his entire body straighten up and he waited expectantly for Eleven to poke his little face out. The smeet did not come out.

Reep frowned and settled back down again, the anger that had been inside him from before mourning in agony. He patted his chest roughly, trying to get whatever was inside him to calm itself down. The mourning settled as well, becoming a soft pang of guilt and sorrow.

The monster sighed gently and reached a hand out to the cupboard door, knocking as softly as he could, "Smeet?"

Eleven winced from inside the cupboard and whimpered, "Go 'way…"

Reep scooted closer to the door and knocked again, "Smeet. Come out now."

The smeet huffed, sniffing as he wiped tears from his face, "No! You were mean! You scared me an' you hurt me, so no!"

The monster nodded, more to himself than anything, and allowed the inner pain he was feeling talk instead, "I know. And I was wrong to do such a thing to you. You are a very precious little creature and I should have never intended any harm upon you…"

Reep slowly stopped talking, wondering why he was admitting such powerful things. He glared at nothing and patted his chest again, roughly, to drown out the mourning inside him.

"Smeet," he started again, "you can't stay in there forever. You'll get cramped up. So come out now. You're not in any trouble, I'm not angry with you, none of anything that happened was your fault."

Eleven still did not move.

The monster felt the mourning inside him grow angry with rage. He was being NICE, he was being SWEET and Eleven still wouldn't heed to him. The anger was starting to boil as before, but Reep took a long breath and opened the cupboard door slowly. The smeet's back was to him and the little body let out a small hiccup, curling in closer to itself. Reep slowly reached inside the cupboard and pulled Eleven out with no resistance, cradling him gently.

The monster smiled slowly, "Good smeet."

Eleven kept his eyes down, avoiding Reep's gaze, and went on to pout. The monster chuckled and stood slowly, carrying the little Irk to the living room and setting him on the couch. While Reep encircled the comforter around the smeet, his PAK opened and two spider legs jumped out to grab and reassemble the bed he had previously thrown around.

The smeet watched carefully and after having determined that Reep was not making any moves towards harming him, patted down the comforter and smoothed it out to reform his little nest. The monster sat down on the floor in front of the smeet to watch and Eleven stopped his preparations to stare back.

And that is how they stayed for quite some time before the little smeet pouted, his face in a frown, and pointed demandingly at Reep, "No!"

Reep blinked and chuckled in surprise, "What?"

Eleven flapped his little hand in the monster's face, trying to shoo him away, "No! You go 'way now! 'Dis is MY pwace! You can't has it!"

The monster smiled softly and took the smeet's hand, "Now, smeet, is that really necessary? Why can't I stay right where I am?"

The emotion inside Reep purred happily at the contact and acknowledgement to which it was being rewarded. The monster unconsciously held onto the smeet's hand a little more firmly and snaked its claws up his wrist.

Eleven whined, "'Cause it is MY pwace an' I made it, so no!" the smeet wrenched his hand back quickly in defiance.

The content feeling inside Reep cried out in horror and anguish and the monster lashed out, snagging the smeet's arm in his claws again. Eleven gasped in surprise, his eyes threatening to tear up, but he stayed quiet when he looked into Reep's face.

The monster's eyes were almost black, as they had been before, but it was not angry. It had no emotion. It just was.

The smeet whimpered softly, "Reep?"

Reep blinked and let go of the smeet to rub his eyes with a groan. Eleven took this opportunity to jump onto the back of the couch and hang over the side just in case he needed to get away. The monster finished rubbing its eyes, which were purple again, and stared at the empty nest.

His antennae flattened and he got up swiftly to look around, "Smeet?"

Eleven perked his antennae slightly so he was more visible and Reep calmed down a bit, gently picking him back up, "There you are," he held him up slightly, "And why, pray tell, were you hiding there?"

The smeet pointed at Reep, gasping, "Your eyes are purple!"

The monster frowned and set the smeet back in his nest, "Yes, my eyes are purple and your eyes are blue. And Chi's eyes are green-"

Eleven shook his head, leaning out of the nest to continue pointing, "Your eyes were so black! They were dark and not purple no' mo'!"

Reep sat on the couch next to him, flexing the hand that had grabbed the smeet before, "Perhaps you were simply imagining things, dear smeet. You are a child after all. Aren't young children endowed with wild imaginations?"

The smeet frowned angrily and stood up in his nest to jump and down in protest, "No! I saw it an' it saw me! You had black eyes!"

The monster chuckled, "Fine. Let's say I believe you. Does it mean anything?"

Eleven's antennae flattened and he sat back down in the comforter, "I no know…"

Reep patted the smeet's head and smiled, "And perhaps it means nothing at all. I know some Irks lose the lights in their eyes when they become very angry."

The smeet whined and pulled the monster's hand off his head to shove it back to him, "But you was not ang'y!" the little Irk gasped and jumped on Reep's lap to inspect him, opening the monster's eyelids wide to make sure he was seeing everything, "Maybe you is bwoken!"

Reep growled softly, but allowed Eleven to continue his deliberation, "And why would I be broken? What could have caused such a thing, little smeet?"

The smeet pouted again and sat in the monster's lap, "I no know," he looked up at him, "but if you are bwoked, I can fix you! 'Den you can be nice fo'ever!"

Reep blinked slowly, confused, "I… Well, if you suppose you can…"

The emotion inside him reeled with delight, not only from the proximity of the smeet but from the proposition that Eleven's focus was now going to be on him! The monster unconsciously hugged the smeet close and nuzzled him gently, a purr emanating from deep inside his chest.

Eleven pushed away a little to see Reep's face, which was full of content emotion and half-lidded, blackened eyes.

The smeet sighed softly as the monster continued to nuzzle, "Reep, you're bwoked…"

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… OH, COME ON, I AM NOT TELLING YOU ANYTHING. Only a couple things: NO, Reep's not gonna do THAT and NO, kisses aren't going to make him better! Plus, you should know a little of what's going on if you READ THE FIRST ECLIPSE. But please, R&R and tell me what you think Reep is suffering from? Other than having a giant ego, superiority complex and a dash of sicko.