Call For Trust: A Final Space AU (Avocato x OC)

Chapter 7: The Request

A week has gone by. Pawblo woke up feeling the same pain on his back like he always does. The couch wasn't the most ideal place, but it was better than nothing. He could've easily just slept on the floor.

He got up and slipped his shirt back on. As he walked into the kitchen, he remembered what Little Cato was teasing him about. Was Avocato really worth getting excited over? He didn't seem all too interested, from what he remembered. But that didn't stop him from wondering.

As he poured himself a cup of coffee, a knock on the door alerted him. "Weird. The kid never shows up this early." Pawblo set the coffee aside and walked up to the door. He opened it, revealing the visitor to be the kid's father.

"Oh. Hey. What do you want?"

Avocato sighed. "Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot. And I apologize for threatening you." He was feeling a little bad for the guy, so instead of saying the usual OK and closing the door, he listened. "Maybe we can start over...Pawblo. Pawblo, right?"

"Yyyup. You're Avocato." Pawblo shrugged his shoulders. "Anything else?" Both ventrexians were a bit quiet, until Avocato remembered why he was here in the first place. "I'm headed to work after this so I'm making this quick. Do you mind if you keep an eye on Little Cato for the next two days?" Pawblo was confused. "Wait a minute. You're going off planet?"

The seaweed green ventrexian nodded. "Yeah. Being second-in-command means having a lot of responsibilities. Don't worry, I told Little Cato you would be there for him while I'm gone." Avocato nervously scratched his neck. "I left money with him, so take him out to eat and stuff."

Pawblo felt confused. "W-wait. You're...trusting me?" He was confused, and felt strange knowing that Little Cato's father was totally okay with his son hanging out with a stranger. Avocato nodded. "To be honest, I still don't trust you. But since Little Cato trusts you, I do." He lightly smiled. The man soon pulled out a check. "Here. For you."

The cornflower-blue ventrexian took the check and read the price on it. 20,000 dropnoids. "W-what?? N-no, I can't take this." He tried to hand the check back, but Avocato pushed his hand back towards him. "I insist. Should be enough to get yourself a better place to live." The man looked around and checked his watch. "Crap, I'm going to be late. Take care of him, okay? Not a single scratch on him!" He soon ran off, back into the crowd.

Pawblo eyed the ventrexian in a tranced way. He never would've figured that the Lord Commander's right hand man was a softie underneath that hard shell. It felt nice.

What am I thinking, Pawblo thought. He felt a little embarrassed thinking about that, so he ignored it as he shoved the check into his pants pocket. As he did this, Little Cato showed up behind him like usual.

"Hey, Pawblo. Did my Dad talk with you?"

"Wha? Oh, hey. Yeah, he did. Just a sec, let me grab some of my things." Pawblo soon ran back into the house and packed another pair of clothes and his tools, as well as a project he was working on. He walked out of the abandoned building, locking the door behind him.

"Alright, kid. Lead me to your place."

"Yessir!"