Webber's POV

"Come on! It's fun!"

"No! It's way too cold!"

"You're such a baby."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"The snow's too deep anyway! There's no way I could walk in that!"

"I am! Come on! I will drag you out here!"

"And I'll tell Mom on you!"

We sighed, scratching at the frosty dirt. Our mind was fighting itself. One part was excited to see the snow again, but we found it hard to stay joyful. We couldn't stop thinking about... about... who? Amber eyes, our mind recalled unhelpfully. Wow, that definitely helps a lot. Thanks a lot, mind.

"What are you guys doing?"

"He won't go out into the snow! He's being a scardy-cat!"

"I'm not a scardy-cat! I'm warm!"

We dug our claws into the palm of our hand and clenched our teeth. Stop. We flinched as there was suddenly a hand on our shoulder. Digging our claws in further- while threatening to draw blood- we looked up at Wilson, who sat next to us.

"Are you okay? I mean, I know you said you were, but... I don't think you really are."

"We're fine," I insisted. He looked concerned, and before we could even comprehend what was happening he had his arms wrapped around us in a tight embrace. We stiffened at first but relaxed and returned the hug.

"You know you can tell me about anything, right?" He said quietly, still hugging us.

We hesitated for a moment, before nodding. "Yes."

"I know you are probably lonely and sad, but you still have us- WX and me."

"We know. It's just-" we cut off and nearly kicked ourself for even hinting at our mental torment.

He broke away, looking us in the eye. "It's just...?"

We quietly reached upward and dug our claws into our left arm. You're an idiot. "It's just... why are we trying so hard to survive here?" We let out a tortured huff. "Everything wants to kill us already, and we can almost guarantee that we won't get out of this place. So why are we trying?"

Wilson frowned down at our arm before making eye contact again. "Have you felt this way the whole time?" He asked, sounding shocked.

We nodded slowly, looking away and not wanting to meet his gray eyes again. We're weak. We're sorry Wilson... we aren't strong... we aren't brave.

"You can't just keep all of this from showing," he said unexpectedly. Oh, right, we're still having this conversation. "You're just going to make more harm for yourself. We're trying to survive because we need to persevere. Your strength isn't proven by your thoughts or beliefs. It's proven by what you do. Pretending like you can't do anything will only make everything worse. And look at everything you've done already!"

"We haven't done anything!"

"We've survived this long!" He exclaimed, and we began to wonder how much of this was pep talk and how much was him trying to sound epic. At this thought, we couldn't help but smile a bit. "You've survived getting attack by a literal tree god for science's sake!"

That caused a faint bout of laughter, and when we looked back he was beaming with undisguised glee. He believes in us, we realized. He really believes in us.

"Come on." Wilson stood and reached out his hand to help us stand too. "Let's defeat this world together. It's three of us against one stupid world."

We gratefully took his hand and looked up at him, trying not to laugh at his obviously melodramatic display. Well, he certainly made us feel better.

"NOT BAD." We nearly jumped out our fur at WX's comment. Oh yeah. He was here too. "A BIT OVER THE TOP, BUT NOT BAD." He shrugged, looking more amused than anything. We felt a twinge of annoyance, but we didn't say anything. "I COULD'VE DONE WITHOUT THE HEROIC OUTRO THOUGH."

"We could've done without your comments though, so we're even," I snapped, and in the corner of our eye, we spotted Wilson's grin only widening. Why could he be pleased now?

Oh. Guess he notices that we like fighting. Curious if he'll purposely start fights between us. Doubt it, but it's kind of nice to know he'll most likely not be breaking up arguments between us anymore. "I COULD'VE DONE WITHOUT YOUR EXISTENCE!" Beside us, Wilson exploded into laughter.

"That is the most childish comeback I have ever heard in my entire life."

"We could annoy you, you know," I told WX. "We could annoy you so much."

"YOU ALREADY DO."

"More than usual."

"I'M NOT COMPLETELY SURE THAT IS POSSIBLE."

"Want to test us?"

"GO AHEAD AND TRY, HALF-BREED."

"You really want to test us? Are you sure about that?"

He gave us the 'I'm-waiting' look and we snickered.

"Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio,

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe!"

WX frowned, even more than usual. Of course, our off-key singing was purposefully terrible for an added annoyance factor. He didn't say anything though, which of course, we took as an invitation to continue.

"Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, "The King and I" and "The Catcher in the Rye"

Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye!"

"OKAY. YOU'VE MADE YOUR POINT." He crossed his arms.

"Have we, WX? Have we?"

"YES."

"We're not sure... Wilson, what do you think?"

"Well, you know what Webber, I don't think you did!"

"Should we do more?"

"You should! Prove how annoying you can be, my apprentice!"

We grinned wildly.

"We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it!"

We received a prompt backhand, but we couldn't help but laugh at it, especially when WX pointed an angry finger at us. "SHUT UP."

"Whoa, someone doesn't get good music when he hears it."

"I didn't even know you knew that song," Wilson laughed. "I would've thought it was too old for you to know."

"You'd be surprised the kind of music our father always listened to." We paused for a moment. "Billy Joel, Beatles, Pink Floyd..."

"You were allowed to listen to Pink Floyd!? Isn't that a bit too mature for you?"

We gave him a deadpan look, and he raised one hand. "Right, right. But... how old exactly you were when you were listening to this stuff?"

"Since we were born." We shrugged.

"Well, I'll admit you have one heck of a taste in music."

"IT'S ANNOYING. MUSIC, IN GENERAL, IS ANNOYING."

"Ah, no wonder you are so terribly unhappy with life, WX. How can anyone think music is annoying?"

Wilson took a step back as though acknowledging he was no longer part of the conversation. We spotted a glimmer of excitement in WX's eyeless gaze as he curled his hands into fists. We bared our fangs, feeling the adrenaline pump through our veins. We weren't sure if he was aiming to hurt us, buthe swung a fist at us anyway. Not even bothering to dodge, we caught the punch and thrust his arm into the air, readying our other hand into a counterattack, but before we could land the hit Wilson grabbed our fist. "Let's not." Narrowing our eyes, we dropped his arm.

"This isn't over."

"YOU KNOW IT'S NOT." He paused, then winked. Shocked by the gesture for a moment, we returned it.

"We'll get you later, paperweight."

For a moment, we could've sworn we saw him smile a bit. "I LOOK FORWARD TO IT, HALF-BREED."