Hello, all! Back at it again!
I don't really have much of an opening blurb or behind the scenes exposition here beyond just simply saying this is one I've had the general idea for and had been working on here and there since the end of last December.
With that short and sweet intro out of the way, I shall let you read on and enjoy!
It was the beginnings of a fairly typical day within the walls of the Restoration HQ. Most everyone were getting ready, keeping themselves busy or being occupied in some form or fashion ubiquitous to their respective roles, functions or what have you.
Inside the room she shared with Kit, Surge was still asleep as she laid sprawled about in her top bunk bed.
However, she slowly began the process of waking up when the scent of something savoury was wafting in the air and crossing by her nostrils.
She opened her eyes little by little, rose up with a drowsy grunt and turned to her left.
On the other end of the room, Surge observed Kit over at the little kitchen area and manning the stove. Seeing this detail made her realize where the tantalizing smell was coming from.
After taking a moment to yawn and stretch, she leaped down from her bed and headed on over to get a closer look at things. As she did so, Kit also just happened to look over to see her approaching and smiled.
"Oh, good morning, ma'am!" He said cheerily.
"Uh...morning, Drippy," Surge responded, taking a couple seconds to yawn again and rub her eyes. "You're up pretty early...or am I up late? Eh, I don't really know..."
"No, I'd say you're right on time."
As Kit turned his attention back to whatever he was prepping up, Surge approached a little closer to see he had on one side a couple of sausage patties frying on a skillet and some scrambled eggs in a frying pan on the other.
"You fixin' up some breakfast for yourself?" She inquired to him.
"No, not for me," Kit answered with a shake of his head. "Actually, this is all gonna be for you."
"Wait, really? Me? Just for me?" Surge questioned in surprise. "But why though?"
"Um...no real particular reason to be honest aside from just feeling like doing something nice for you," Kit explained, glancing over to the tenrec again. "Assuming that's okay with you that is."
Although feeling like there had to be more to it than just that, Surge nevertheless did have to admire the fact Kit was putting this kind of effort for her at this moment. She shrugged and showed the fennec a small toothy grin.
"Hey, I ain't gonna complain about getting some complementary grub," She said before patting him on the back. "I'll let you keep at it while I take a sec to get myself spruced up."
Letting Kit continue to work on things, Surge headed off to get herself ready for the day. Her saying it would only "take a sec" ended being not that much of an exaggeration. Since she slept in her typical clothes the other night as she didn't bother changing into anything else, the only things she ended up needing to do were putting on her earrings, doing up her quills and getting her shoes on.
When Surge finished doing those things, she decided to take a seat on the couch in the middle of the room and waited for Kit to be done.
It only took another couple of minutes later for the fennec to have her breakfast all ready. Surge didn't even have to leave her seat as Kit brought everything over to her on a tray. She also noticed that in addition to the sausage and eggs – the latter of which having some melted cheese add in – there was also a piece of buttered toast as well.
"Okay, hope you enjoy it, ma'am!" Kit said.
"Well, that does look pretty nice I gotta say!" Surge said as she looked down at everything, then she glanced at the fennec. "What about you though? Aren't you gonna have something too?"
Kit nodded. "Oh yeah, don't worry, I got something ready for myself as well. Just gimme a couple seconds and I'll be right back with it."
While he did that, Surge wasted no time in with digging into her breakfast.
Sure enough, Kit returned with a bowl of cereal at hand and took a seat next to the tenrec where he too began eating.
"So y'know, Drippy," Surge spoke up during a pause in her eating. "Not to keep zeroing in on this or anything, but are you sure there was no particular reason for you making me breakfast now?"
"Uh...no, ma'am." Kit simply answered.
"You sure? Like...did I do something nice for you recently that I don't remember doing and this is your way of returning the favour? Or are you trying to make up for something you've done on your end?"
Although it her mind that last claim was meant in jest, another glance over at Kit made Surge realize that may have not been the best choice of words as a troubled look came over the fennec's face.
"W-wait...a-are you saying I d-did something wrong to you and I didn't know it?" Kit wondered worriedly. "I-I mean, I-I'm sorry if I did..."
"What? No, Kit, I..." Surge started to say, sighing and placing a hand on the fennec's head briefly. "Look, don't worry about it. I wasn't being serious when I said that. I guess I'm still trying to get used to the idea of nice things being done for me just for it's own sake."
A somewhat awkward minute passed on by while the two of them continued to eat.
"All that being said though, I do gotta appreciate you going out of your way to make all this for me, Kit," Surge eventually said to break the silence. "Not to mention it's real good too."
"Oh...well, I'm happy to hear that." Kit said with a smile.
Surge smiled back at him, patted his shoulder in appreciation and then she finished up the last remaining bits of her breakfast. At the same time, Kit had also finished his cereal and in a move that Surge found strange at first, he put his bowl on top of her plate before then taking the whole tray with him.
"Here, I'll take all of these while I'm at it." He said to her.
"Oh, uh, all right then, sure," Surge simply said, chuckling a little. "I ain't gonna stop you."
With that, Kit took everything over to the kitchen, put the tray to the side and put the dishes in the sink before getting to work on washing them.
In the meantime, Surge took the time in kicking back and relaxing in the couch for now. If how surprisingly pleasant this morning had already gone thus far was anything to go by, then she had a feeling the rest of the day ahead had the potential to be a good one indeed.
Later on in the early afternoon, Surge and Kit had been spending the better part of the preceding few hours milling about their own respective business.
At one point though, Surge chose to swing on by back to her and Kit's room for a brief moment. While the fennec may have not been presently there, something else that wasn't earlier in the morning was.
Surge's gaze trained on a brown paper bag with a note attached to it placed on top of the kitchen counter. She went up to it and took a closer look at the note which she read aloud.
"Hey Surge, I put together a lunch for you in case you want it. It may not be much, but I hope it can do the trick. (Don't worry, I had something already if you were wondering)
Anyway, I'm gonna be over at the machine shop for most of the afternoon if you're gonna wonder where I am. See you when I get back! :)
- Kit"
Surge couldn't help but grin and laugh. "Well, talk about another unexpected yet pleasant surprise."
She opened up the bag and casually dumped its contents out. They consisted of a peanut butter sandwich inside of a little plastic sandwich bag, a fruit snack pouch, a pudding cup with a plastic spoon and an apple juice box.
"Huh...this is like some kinda kiddish fare," Surge observed before shrugging. "But then again it's like world class cuisine compared to the roots, berries and crappy stale rations we'd use to gnaw on, so who am I to complain?"
Knowing it wouldn't take long at all, she leaned back against the counter and make short work of everything in just a couple minutes. Afterwards, she let out a satisfied sigh.
"Ahh, that was actually pretty tasty. Thanks for that, Drippy," Surge said, then she chuckled once more. "Dunno why I'm saying that out loud when you're not here right now, but hey, it's the truth nonetheless."
Next, she threw the trash away, but decided to hang on to the note which she took another look at.
In addition to the thoughtfulness of him putting a lunch together for her, Surge couldn't help but also be impressed by the fact that Kit mentioned where he was going to be for the time being. Used to be he'd ask for her permission before going anywhere outside of their room and she had to keep hammering it home that he didn't need to do that so long he at least simply said where he was going to be and when he'll be back. Any little step in him making more decisions on his own was always going to be a welcome one for her.
Speaking of decisions, Surge now contemplated what to do with her time next. She had little other plans ahead, but also didn't feel content in just sitting around doing nothing either.
So thus, she opted to simply head on out and figure things out along the way.
And considering she was in such a good mood thanks to twice now being surprised by meals made for her by Kit, she had a feeling whatever may lay ahead would be similarly fruitful.
All things considered, it looked like a good day to be Surge the Tenrec.
Today had not in fact been a good day to be Surge the Tenrec.
The pleasantness and cheer which shined through earlier on had given way to cantankerous grumbling and a more characteristic snarling sneer written on her face.
She had it all planned out in her head as she went out into the world: use her sunnier than usual disposition as a vector and incentive to seek out any common folks in need of her brand of heroism; soak in the adulation; brag to anyone who'll listen on her way back; and finally return to her and Kit's room so she could go on regaling everything in private to faithful ol' Drippy who she bet will love hearing about every second of her afternoon escapades.
Alas though, a spectre of bad luck and extreme misfortune had other plans for her and thus she'll be doing none of the above. Now all she cared about was getting out of the prying eyes of the public and back to her room.
And the last thing she'd want is to have anyone stop her along the way.
"Oh, there you are, Surge!"
Emitting a low growl, a brief glance from her peripheral vision brought Belle coming into view and approaching her.
"Beat it, I'm not in the mood!" Surge said, turning away and returning on her path.
"But wait...!"
Belle lunged forward and grabbed a hold of Surge's wrist before the tenrec tried to get away any further.
Almost immediately, she began regretting her decision as Surge fully turned around; a less than pleased sneer shown on the latter's face.
Turning all the way around also showed Belle just how dishevelled Surge was.
"Gears and starters!" Belle said following a gasp. "What happened to you?"
Starting from her head, Surge's quills were a mess with them largely being down sans her hair band. From there, her lip looked a little bloodied up, her right forearm bore a scrape, her shirt had a couple of holes in it and there was a huge tear along the left side of her pants.
"None of your fuckin' business." Surge grumbled out, yanking her wrist away from Belle's grasp and attempting to leave again.
"Oh, well, don't think you need to be so harsh about it, but...be that as it may, are you okay though? Don't you think you should get yourself checked out just to be sure you're not too seriously hurt?" Belle wondered as she still followed the tenrec.
"Hey, I'm still walking, talking, breathing air outta my lungs and made it back here in one piece. I think that should say it all," Surge answered defiantly. "Now if you're done wasting my time, I'd like to get back to my room, get away from everyone else for now and hopefully see what Drippy's been up to..."
"Actually, uh...speaking of Kit, that's why I was trying to find you," Belle said. "He...hasn't had the best day..."
"Huh?" Surge uttered, stopping in her tracks to tilt her head and raise an eyebrow. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"
"Well, um..." Belle began nervously. "There...there was an...incident over at the machine shop a little earlier in the day and...he got pretty hurt."
And just like that, almost every inch of frustration and choler regarding how her day went had evaporated from within Surge. She showed that further through a softened expression on her face.
"Hurt? Like how? Is he okay? Where is he?" She asked, each question sounding a little more concerned than the last.
"He's generally okay and he's over at you guys' room, so..." Belle tried in explaining.
"Generally okay? The hell do you mean by that? I..." Surge interrupted with, then paused to sigh heavily. "Fuck it, never mind, I shouldn't be wasting too much of my time here asking questions. I gotta go over and see how he's-"
As she was speaking, Surge had abruptly turned around and began to make a brisk pace for her and Kit's room. However, the sudden nature in how she started moving caused her to inadvertently trip over own her feet and fall face first onto the floor below.
"Ow, shit...!" She grumbled. "Ugh...just one fucking thing after another..."
Surge took a couple of seconds to push herself back up to her hand and knees, and upon doing so, she looked to see Belle having extended her hand out. Sighing, the tenrec eventually accepted the assistance and got pulled back up to her feet.
"Uh...thanks, I suppose," Surge said hesitantly and brushed herself off. "Anyway, I better get over there and check up on him."
"Yeah, please do. I'm sure he'd like that," Belle agreed. "I mean, he did say something similar just like you just did about how he wished to be left alone and not deal with anyone else, but I bet he'll still want to see you anyway."
The notion that Kit was in a similar mood of stowing away from it all in their room only increased Surge's desire to return to him and find out what happened. With that, she nodded in acknowledgement to Belle and went on her way.
Eventually, Surge arrived at the door to her and Kit's room. She opened it, stepped inside and let out a relieved sigh the moment she closed the door shut behind her.
She looked around and at first, it didn't seem like Kit was in the immediate vicinity. However, she soon observed a round shape underneath the blanket of his bed which she deduced is where he likely was. She also figured that on the basis of seeing his Hydro Pack and boots being placed to the side close by.
Before going over to see how he's doing though, Surge wanted to take care of a couple quick other things for herself. She went over to a small dresser nestled near the corner of the room. Next, she slipped off her shoes and put them to the side. Then after that, she removed her earrings, gloves and wristbands before placing everything on top of the dresser. She also happened to see that's where Kit's gloves apparently stacked on top of his wristbands had been placed too.
Finally, she reached inside her pants pocket and retrieved her hair band which she also placed alongside everything else.
Speaking of those pants, she also figured a change of clothes was in order given how torn up both it and her shirt were from her various earlier mishaps. Since it was close to the evening and she had no desire in heading out anywhere else for the day, she opted to go with a simple undershirt and some pyjama bottoms in this case. She took those with her and headed to the bathroom to change.
A couple minutes later, Surge reemerged in her chosen nighttime attire and also having smoothed out her quills from their more earlier dishevelled state plus rinsing down her face. With all of that done, she could at last go check up on Kit.
She looked over again to where she presumed he was underneath the blanket and frowned. Between this and the relative vagueness in which Belle mentioned some kind of incident befalling him earlier in day, it continued to heighten her need to get to the bottom of things. She approached the bed and sat down on the edge of it.
"Hey, Drippy, how's it hangin'?" Surge asked him in a casual tone.
She got no reaction, either in the moment or even after several passing seconds.
"So...anything fun or exciting happen while I was off and about?" She rephrased things more cheerily.
Again, Surge didn't get any reaction; not even so much as a flinch from Kit. At this rate, she sighed, moved in closer towards him and figured that a straightforward approach is the route worth taking.
"All right, listen, I've heard that...something happened to you while I was gone," she began more seriously. "I...I heard it from Belle just as I was coming back here. She didn't exactly say what happened though other than you got hurt somehow."
She reached out and placed a hand over Kit's form.
"So...I do wanna know what went down...but it would help if I can at least see my best little buddy first."
Whether that affectionate little designation was specifically what did the trick or not, there was finally a bit of movement from under the blanket.
Sure enough, Kit just barely poked out enough of his face into view. Surge smiled a little at first, but a closer look at the fennec's face showed one of the saddest expressions she'd ever seen out of him which in turn caused her to grow more worried.
"Drippy?" She softly addressed.
He kind of stayed the way he was without making any further movements for a few more seconds.
Hesitantly, Surge again reached out and took a hold of the blanket. She waited to see if Kit would object and when he didn't, she gently pulled it off of him and in turn he slowly began to sit up.
Her immediate reaction was to notice how just like her, he now had put on nighttime attire in the form of an undershirt and pyjama shorts likely at some point after he returned to their room.
But that simple observation paled in comparison to what she saw that caused her to audibly gasp.
With Kit's face now in full view, Surge noticed a scrape on his right cheek and some bruising around his left eye.
Both of those were concerning enough, but by far the most worrisome detail to her was seeing Kit's left forearm all bandaged up and with a little bit of blood having visibly seeped through.
"Geez...what happened to you, Kit?" Surge asked him.
The fennec did not respond. Instead, he slowly brought his bandaged arm up, held it up against his chest with his other arm and lowered his head. Him doing all that plus hearing what she believed was a faint whimper said to Surge that he had to be in quite a bit of pain.
"Did someone rough you up?" She wondered, her facial expression briefly forming into one of ire. "'Cause you better believe I ain't gonna let that slide if some dumb shit hurt you in any way."
Kit shook his head to indicate that was not the case.
"No? Then...what did happen?"
Once again, Kit remained mum. His apparent unwillingness to say what befell him that caused the visible damage on his body was only fuelling further confusion and worry within Surge. What certainly didn't help matters is how he began to lightly sniffle.
Sighing, she figured if he wasn't going to divulge events right away, then there was one thing she thought he probably needed more than anything else at this moment.
"Here...bring it in, little man." Surge said as she opened up her arms.
Upon hearing that from her, Kit looked back up and after pausing for a bit, he began gingerly scooting over towards the tenrec. He didn't have to exert that much effort as Surge reached out and gently helped bring him onto her lap. He leaned the right side of his body against her while she securely wrapped her arms around him comfortably enough.
For a good minute or so, they sat there in relative silence. Eventually though, Surge heard the sounds of Kit beginning to lightly weep.
"S-s-stupid..." He said shakily after another minute.
"Hmm...?" Surge uttered.
"I-I...I was s-so s-stupid..." Kit tried saying a little more clearly.
"What?" Surge said befuddled, then she gave him a rub on his back. "Hey now, no need to call yourself that..."
"B-but I was! I-I was s-stupid!" Kit strained out. "N-not just w-with myself...b-but...but also t-towards h-her too..."
Surge was confused over what Kit was talking about or who he was referencing. She wanted to hone in on that further, but he started breaking into more audible sobbing before she could.
Sighing, she simply pressed her muzzle on the top of his head, held him a little tighter and then ran her hand down both his ears as well as his back in order to help soothe him.
"I'm...I'm s-sorry, Surge..." Kit said through hitched breaths. "It's just...t-today didn't go t-too well for me..."
"It's all right, Kit. If it helps at all, I can relate since I had a kinda sucky day myself too," Surge said softly to him. "But anyway, give yourself some time to let it out and we'll try talking some more afterwards, okay?"
She felt Kit nod against her and in turn, she gave him one more squeeze of assurance with her arms.
The two of them simply sat together like so for another stretch of time. It's instances like these where even if Kit was in distress, Surge still had grown to treasure each moment she spent with him. Every second by his side – be it through times of fun, joy, sadness or comfort – is one second more where she grew a closer, more authentic bond with him. One that defied the false memories and involuntary co-dependence first foisted upon them from what felt like eons ago. Nothing else mattered more than moments such as these.
Which made it all the more frustrating when the abrupt sound of somebody knocking on the door came along to interrupt things.
"Oh, fuckin' hell..." Surge grumbled under her breath. "Don't need to deal with anyone else now..."
At first, Kit was unsure why she said that. The only sounds he heard beyond her speaking were that of his own sobs. However, he did pick up on a follow up series of door knocks when he took a moment to listen in closer. Now sharing in Surge's feeling of frustration, he let an annoyed groan as well.
"Maybe if we stay put, be quiet and do nothing then whoever is there might leave us alone." Surge suggested.
And that is exactly what they did as a third round of knocking came around. Close to a minute had passed without another sound and there was hope whoever this interrupter was would get the hint and leave.
"Hello?"
Both the tenrec and fennec recognized that voice as belonging to Belle. Neither had a clue as to why she was here and again, neither were in the mood for coming face-to-face with anyone else after their less than stellar days.
"I don't mean to be a bother, but can someone answer the door? Please? I promise it'll be quick."
For a moment, Surge pulled away a bit and looked at Kit. He looked up at her and she could sense the shared sentiment of being unenthusiastic over having any added company.
However, Kit did eventually nod his head lightly as to suggest to Surge he's all right with her answering the door. Sighing heavily, she gently lifted him off her lap and briefly put her hand on his head.
"Sit tight, Drippy," she told him. "Hopefully it won't take too long."
Surge stood up from Kit's bed and headed for the door. Once there, she grabbed the doorknob, turned it and only just about opened the door enough to peer around and see Belle standing there.
"What?" Surge asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"Hey..." Belle meekly said. "I'm so sorry and I know you guys aren't in the mood for company, but I found this while I was cleaning around the machine shop and I believe it belongs to Kit."
Surge looked down to see Belle extend a hand out to show she had what appeared to be one of Kit's wristbands.
"Huh...I thought I saw that he already had both of them put on top of the dresser," Surge said, then she shrugged. "Guess maybe I was wrong, so...whatever and thanks I suppose."
"I'd give it to him myself, but...I don't really think he'd want to see me now after today." Belle explained as she looked away in shame.
Hearing that piqued Surge's curiosity. Between that and recalling Kit vaguely referencing being stupid to someone just minutes ago while he was crying, she started connecting some dots in her head and it finally dawned on her that Belle may have been the one who he'd been talking about.
With that in mind, she had an idea. She stepped aside and opened the door a bit further.
"I think...maybe you should return it to him yourself." Surge suggested.
Belle looked around anxiously. "Oh, but I wouldn't want to intrude further and again, he probably doesn't-"
"Just...just do it," Surge curtly interrupted with before sighing and softening her expression. "Trust me on this, okay?"
Trusting Surge wouldn't have necessarily been something Belle would've given a lot of thought to in the past. But it was the past for a reason and now with the insistence and air of sincerity coming out of the tenrec, she was willing to indulge in the suggestion.
After a little bit of hesitation, Belle stepped inside and made her way over to Kit while Surge followed from behind.
"Kit?" Belle softly addressed to him. "I think this belongs to you."
He looked at the wristband in Belle's hand, nodded and pointed in the direction of the dresser indicating where she should put it. She did just that and she looked back over at him.
"Uh...so..." She began saying as she approached him again
"I-I'm sorry..." Kit suddenly said.
Belle looked on confused. "Huh? What?"
"I said...I'm sorry..." Kit repeated. "I'm sorry...for how stupidly I acted to you earlier."
"Oh, uh..." Belle uttered, still a bit confused. "Well, I mean, I don't blame you for-"
"No, no!" Kit shouted, wincing in pain afterwards. "It doesn't matter how I was feeling at the time. There was no reason for me to lash out at you like I did. So again, I'm sorry."
Watching on, Surge was still rather lost over what had happened to Kit in general, let alone whatever he was apologizing to Belle over right at this moment. Still though, it did seem nice to see them working it out all the same.
Nicer still was when Belle approached Kit and gently held him in a brief hug.
"Hey, it's okay. I forgive you, so don't worry." She said assuredly.
It took him a second, but Kit reciprocated with a brief hug of his own. The sight did cause Surge to have a small smile come across her face as she continued observing.
"Well..." Belle started saying as she pulled away. "I'll finally let you and Surge be again. See you around and I hope you get better soon, Kit."
Kit smiled and nodded. "Yeah, sure. Thank you, Belle, and thank you for helping me with my arm as well."
"Anytime." Belle said, smiling in return.
She turned and began making her leave. Along the way, she glanced over at Surge and gave a her little wave; one which the tenrec did respond with a wave of her own and even a little smile.
But just as Belle made it to the door and opened it, she felt a hand being placed on her shoulder. She looked behind to see Surge standing before her once more.
"Hey, uh...if what Kit said is true about you helping him out, then...thanks," Surge said in a heartfelt manner. "I hate the fact I was away while it happened and couldn't be by his side sooner, but...it's good to know he had someone else who could be there for him while I was unavailable at the time."
Though she may not still be entirely used to hearing a more reserved and thankful side coming from the tenrec, Belle nevertheless still appreciated the sentiment and smiled.
"Sure, it's my pleasure." She said.
After that, Belle finally went on her way and once she closed the door behind her, Surge let out a sigh and went back over to Kit's side.
"Okay, now hopefully that's the last we'll have to see head or tail of anyone else for today." She said along with a mild chuckle.
Once more, she wrapped the fennec up in her arms again; something he welcomed by immediately leaning against her and sighing happily. Hearing that made Surge smile and chuckle again knowing he'd appeared to be getting close to better spirits.
"So..." She began after a few seconds of silence. "You feel comfortable enough to tell me what happened to you?"
Kit nodded. "Y-yeah, I guess so..."
He shifted back from Surge a little in order to face her better.
"I suppose to make a long story short, a bunch of dumb things came together into one..."
He began mimicking a cranking motion.
"First, I lost control of a wrench I was using and it banged me right in the eye," he said, pointing to the eye which had the bruising around it and then pointed to his scraped cheek. "Which caused me to not quite see where I was going, so then I stumbled around until I tripped and fell down face first onto the floor."
Next, he gestured to his injured arm.
"And I don't exactly remember what since it happened so quickly, but I guess my arm brushed against some sharp bit of machinery as that was occurring and it caused a little bit of a cut here."
Surge looked at Kit's arm and frowned a little. She felt like his description of the cut may have been generous if it needed to be wrapped up like it has been. At the same time though, it must've not been that grievous of an injury if was able to be back in their room not too long at all after suffering it and thus at least had to be thankful for that.
"Okay, so if that's the gist of how you got all hurt, then what I wanna know now is what were you talking about when you said you were stupid to 'her', who I guess was Belle given how things played out and got resolved when she was here just a moment ago?" Surge inquired.
"Oh, that..." Kit said with some lingering regret in his voice. "Well, after everything that happened to me, she wanted to help out in whatever way she could, including assisting in putting the bandages around my arm. But at the same time, how she helped out got kind of overbearing and because I was already frustrated with myself over everything else, it boiled over and I ended up yelling at her to stop, saying I wanted to be left alone and not deal with anyone else."
The fennec's expression turned slightly sadder and he looked down.
"But I felt awful about how I acted as soon as I came back here and I wanted to apologize to her, but I though she wouldn't want to hear from me because of it," He explained further, then he looked back up with a tiny smile. "Which is why I was relieved when she did come over just now and I was able to tell her that I'm sorry."
He let out a small sigh to relieve himself of any remaining tension and anxiety within him. After that, he felt Surge softly ruffle around his hair.
"Well, good for you in getting things smoothed over with her," she said with a smile of her own. "And just as importantly, I'm relieved that you're okay after what you went through. I'm sure it had to suck, but I know you're a tough little dude and you'll bounce back in due time."
"Yeah, I think I will," Kit agreed. "And it probably helps that I may have learned some of that toughness from yourself. It's...it's one of the things I like about and look up to you for."
Surge couldn't help but grin confidently. "Hey, when you look to the best, you're bound to pick up a thing or two along the way."
Both of them shared a laugh and then once more, the tenrec reached out and brought Kit into her arms for another hug; something the fennec was all too ready to welcome himself into. This time though, he was also able to return the favour to her as well.
"Also, let me add that everything as you described it sounds like they were nothing more than just accidents," Surge mentioned. "So again, no need to rag yourself as being stupid as it wasn't your fault and once more the most important thing is that you're okay."
Kit smiled. "Yeah, you're right."
They sat together in their embrace for a couple more minutes, with the only thing interrupting the proceedings this time around being a low gurgling sound coming from Kit's stomach.
"Heh, sounds like you might be in the mood for a spot of grub, eh, Drippy?" Surge said following a laugh.
"Uh-huh, might be a good idea." Kit said as he nodded against the tenrec's shoulder.
"I'm thinking the same for myself too," Surge added. "And tell ya what, I dunno if you had planned on doing so like you did when you made breakfast and lunch earlier today, but I can handle getting something put together for dinner while you take it easy. I think you deserve it after what you've been through."
"Oh...um, sure, if that's what you want to do." Kit said.
"Yeah, I'm feeling up to it," Surge affirmed while giving the fennec a rub on his back. "I may not be some culinary genius, but I'm sure I can whip something up without burning the place down."
Kit chuckled. "Okay, you go do that. Well, I mean the making dinner part, not the burning down part."
"I gotcha," Surge said following a hearty laugh. "Also, consider it my way of returning the favour and saying thanks for again making me breakfast and lunch earlier in the day just because you wanted to. You really are such a good kid, Kit."
Kit had a big smile on his face as he lightly squeezed his arms around Surge and she too did the same in return. Following that, the fennec got a little surprise as she maintained her grip around him, stood up and began carrying him over to the couch. Once there, she sat him down and ruffled his hair.
"All right, Drippy. Sit tight and I'll see what kind of chow I can get together for ourselves." Surge told him.
"Sure thing, ma'am." Kit said while nodding.
With that, Surge made her way to the kitchen to see what kind of fixings could be in order for both of them.
In the meantime, Kit simply sat back and got comfortable while he waited it out.
Just only a couple minutes later though, Surge was back right by Kit's side albeit without anything at hand. However, he figured something must've been in the making based on hearing the low hum of the microwave running.
"So, what are we gonna be having?" Kit curiously asked.
"Just you wait and you'll see, Drippy." Surge responded self-assuredly.
The mystery of it did intrigue the fennec to a degree. He didn't have an entire recollection of what he and Surge had in stock in terms of foodstuffs, so he was looking forward to the result.
Until then and as means to pass the time, there was something else that recalled to him.
"By the way, I feel kinda bad I didn't ask you earlier, but didn't you say that your day wasn't so good either? Like how if you don't mind me asking?" Kit wondered.
"Oh, right, I did. In fact, I kinda forgot all about my day 'cause I got all wrapped up with what went down with you." Surge replied.
She sat back further into her seat and sighed.
"So I ain't gonna bog ya down with the whole nitty-gritty of it all, but let's just say a whole lotta dumb stuff happened to me while I was out and about today."
She paused and pressed her fingers against her temple.
"But the peak, lowlight or whatever you wanna call it was when some schmuck apparently got their Chao stuck up in a tree. So when I saw that I thought 'hey, let me try and be the hero in getting the little critter down'. Sounded like a decent enough plan at the time."
"Oh, well...that does sound nice of you to do that," Kit acknowledged. "But obviously I'm guessing as you said it didn't end well."
"Not one little bit." Surge said bluntly.
Next in her explanation of the day's tribulations, she pantomimed the act of climbing up a tree.
"So there I was going up this tree with ease and I had the little guy in sight and within reach. But right when I remembered that these things can fly, off he goes and next thing I knew, I suddenly lost my grip and went tumbling down hitting a couple branches along the way. I even got my pants caught in a twig which tore a big ass hole in them just in case you're wondering why I'm dressed like I am now."
"Yeah, I had been kinda curious about that," Kit admitted. "And speaking of curiosity, what happened to the Chao if I may ask?"
"Well, as I kinda said, he did fly off and managed to make it back to solid ground a hell of a lot better than I did," Surge further explained with a sardonic chuckle. "And I have half a mind to think the whole thing might've been a setup because his owner, caretaker or whatever the fuck people who have Chao under their wing are called had such a laugh at my misfortune."
The tenrec ran her hands down her face and grumbled.
"And even if it wasn't, I already had enough for one day and that was basically the moment when I said 'screw it' and just felt like heading back here. Again, I thought that would be the lowlight of my day..."
Finally, she let out a deep breath and glanced back over at Kit; giving particular attention again to his bandaged arm.
"That is until I heard about what went down with you. Pretty much everything else became irrelevant by then."
Kit brought that arm of his back up to his chest again and brushed a hand along it.
"Does it hurt at all?" Surge wondered. "I feel a little bad that I may have not asked about that more specifically."
"It...it did at the time," Kit answered as he moved his arm around a bit and wiggled his fingers. "But it has been doing better over time."
"Well, that's good to know," Surge said, reaching over and yet again patting his head. "Like I said a little earlier, you're a tough one and you'll come out of this just that bit more stronger."
Kit smiled. "Thanks. While I'm at it, I'm sorry about what happened to you on your end of things. But I know you're tough too and you'll bounce back as well."
The tenrec smiled back and she held him in a brief one-armed hug. It ended up being brief as not too long into it, the sound of the microwave beeping would come along.
"Oh, guess they're done now," Surge noted. "Gimme a couple seconds here and I'll be back in a jiffy..."
With that, she stood up to check things out. By the time she came back over, Kit saw that she was carrying two plates of little pizza bagel bites. The sight alone caused the fennec to widen his eyes and show off a very happy smile.
"Heh...I was gonna say this may not be fancy frou-frou fare, but clearly with an eager face like that I had no reason to worry." Surge said with a grin of her own.
She handed one of the plates over to Kit and then she sat back down with her own at hand.
Right away, Kit wasted no time in diving in. A single nibble of one of the bites was enough for him to let out a gleeful little squeal and swish his tail around a bit. It was sight that absolutely warmed Surge's heart to witness.
"Guess that says it all about if you think they're good, huh?" She said.
Without skipping a beat, he nodded approvingly and kept at it in eating. Meanwhile, Surge chuckled and she began eating her share as well.
It took only mere minutes for both of them to finish things up and once that happened, Kit would be surprised to see Surge take her plate, place it on top of his and take both with her kind of similar to how he did with their dishes in the morning after breakfast.
"I got a handle on these," she said to him. "Again, you deserve to have the night off from doing much work."
She brought the plates over to the sink and did the bare minimum in washing them as the most they had were some leftover crumbs plus wayward bits of melted cheese and sauce.
Upon finishing things up and drying off her hands, Surge once more made it back to Kit's side, sat down and sighed heavily.
"Oh boy, what a hell of day, huh?" She said, turning to the fennec. "And that goes for both of us."
"Uh-huh..." Kit simply added.
He scooted over closer to Surge and rested his head on her shoulder. In response to that, she placed an arm around him and rested her own head on top of his.
"My best little buddy..." She said to him after a minute.
"Huh? Y-you meant that?" Kit said in surprise, pulling away to look up at the tenrec. "I-I mean, you did call me that earlier, but...you really see me like that?"
"Well, duh, Drippy!" Surge said assuredly, taking a second to playfully noogie him. "You'd think all times just today I've said how thankful I am for having a good kid like you around would make that pretty obvious!"
Just because she could, she brought Kit back onto her lap and held him close.
"But seriously though, I do mean that, Kit. Hell, in a way you're kinda like a little brother to me if I wanna be a bit more honest. That's how special you've become to me and even during days which may end up sucking for me like today, knowing you're in my life will always make them just that bit better no matter what."
Kit felt like he was at a loss for words. Simply being seen as an equal to Surge would've been good enough for him, let alone a friend of any level or description.
But like a little brother to her? That was above and beyond anything he could've hoped for or wanted.
With tears welling up in his eyes and overwhelming happiness filling his heart, he buried his face into her chest and hugged her tightly.
"Thank you so much, Surge..." Kit said softly yet with the utmost earnestness. "If that's the case, then...I see you kinda like my big sister. You're special to me too and make every day of my life better and worth it."
Now it had become Surge's turn to be moved beyond additional words. Instead of speaking, she only smiled, chuckled and conveyed what she already felt for and had just affirmed to the fennec by hugging him just that bit more firmly.
As they relaxed in each other's arms and presence, they let the words which they've just said to one another sink in further. It really was a simple and basic truth:
No matter how unsatisfactory or unsavoury any given day of theirs could end up going, they can rest assured knowing they can close out the rest of the world for just a little while, use that time to recuperate alongside the other and then be ready to take on whatever the following day has in store for them.
And doing that all while further forging closer bonds with one another – up to and including to the level of being like siblings – made it all the more worthwhile.
And with that, another one is in the books! If I haven't said it enough, it's safe to say that I've made it perfectly clear through my writings since returning to the fanfiction game just how much I adore these two and love putting them into situations where they're supportive and caring for one another. It brings me great joy to do that and to share it with the world for those who like that kind of thing as well. ^^
That is all for now! Thank you for reading, take care and I shall see you around next time!