Counting stars

Pulchritudinous us

Velvet was truly something else. Maybe it was all humans, Ant didn't know, but this one was... weird wasn't then right word. Special, maybe? He took Ant back to simpler days. Back when he was a teenager and just hung around in the Badlands with his friends, talking, laughing, feeling free. The entire afternoon, evening and until 2am, the two had talked. Ant wasn't even sure what Velvet said half of the time but he was facinated by the passion in his voice. It was the first time since the Badland days in his teenage years that he had talked to someone who spoke their mind instead of brushing everything off. Ant had somewhat understood the 'parent' concept now, but he had come to the realisation that earth was a lot different than Tzeaia. (Did I just make up a name for this planet, yes. It's only the fourth chapter... )

The humans seemed to be more cultured in a way. They had something Velvet called 'phones' which was a way of communicating with people when you were too lazy to walk to each other's houses. They also had something called 'video games' that Ant found rather interesting. Mainly because they reminded him of some of the things they did on Hypixel. Ant had introduced Velvet to MCC and Velvet seemed pretty excited about it. Then Ant had rambled on about Ace Race strategies, his undying love for meltdown and his scores in TGTTOSAWAF. Soon enough, Velvet had fallen asleep. Ant couldn't blame him. So far, he hadn't met many who shared his love for MCC strategizing. 

Now, Ant had woken up and he was looking down at the sleeping redhead. His expression was soft and relaxed and he breathed slowly, like he was scared to break something if his breathing got heavier. His mouth was slightly open and his hand curled into a fist next to his face. His hair was messy after a night of sleep. The two had borrowed a matress and a blanket from Puffy's house and Velvet had then introduced him to sleepovers. Ant had asked if humans did that often and Velvet admitted that he hadn't been to many sleepovers. Not any, actually. 

Ant (who preffered to sleep as a cat) placed his paws on the floor and carefully made his way around Velvet's matress and out the door. Just as he was about to close the door behind him when he realised what kind of panic, Velvet would most likely wake up in, so he wrote a quick note that he left on his own bed. And then he headed out.

As Ant was walking down the path through the dark winter forest, he made a decision. He wanted to meet Velvet's friends. Just to see if being... special, was a human thing. Or just a Velvet thing. Also, making new friends weren't dangerous. Just a bit unusual for Ant - he was a huge introvert. And he didn't need to make new friends often, he had Puffy and Skeppy if he ever wanted company. Or his colleagues at Hypixel. But none of these people were ones he had actually gotten connected to in a way where he wished for their friendship to keep growing forever. The truth was, Ant had been scared of his own feelings since his old friends... 

God, why is this so hard to think about?

Ant kicked a rock that was half covered in frozen dirt, making it scoot over the ground and hit a bush nearby. 

"OW!"

Ant froze. Bushes don't say ow. That was one thing he was certain of. "Who the hell is hiding in that bush, show yourself," he demanded, reaching for his sword at his waist. He was ready to slice the head of whoever it was if they were to attack him. 

A girl with dark hair dyed pink at the ends, a black dress, a red hat and pink demon wings stumbled out from the bush. She was shorter than Ant but the eyes framed by black eyeliner stared him down like she was double his height. Ant wasn't sure whether to grip tighter on his sword or to let it fall. The two stared at each other for a long while and then she tossed her hair behind her back and turned away from him. She crawled back into her bush and disappeared. 

"Wait, no! Come back, are you one of Velvet's friends? He told me about you, I think. You're... Gumi, right? A short sociopath with a deathstare who has a funny laugh!"