The Great War

={Chapter 14: A Cuddly Last Morning}=

={WARNING: HEAVY FLUFF}=

Molten woke up slowly to the sound of birds singing in the nearby forest, he tried unconsciously blocking out the noise, but when that failed, he attempted to role over onto his other side, with the hope that switching sides would get him comfortable enough to go back to sleep, when he froze, he wasn't sure why he had suddenly stopped at first, until he felt something just barely press against his chest, and he slowly opened his eyes to look down at what it was, suddenly remembering last night and the previous day as he saw Bryan, asleep curled up against Molten with his chest slowly rising and falling in rhythmic breaths, pressing against Molten's own chest every time Bryan inhaled. Bryan's forehead was pressed into Molten's neck, with his arms wrapped around Molten's midsection, while Molten had his head just above Bryan's with his own arms wrapped around Bryan's upper and lower back. Molten had a wave of tired awe hit him, and he gently and carefully snuggled up against Bryan more as he closed his eyes again, reburying his face in Bryan's fluffy hair, he wasn't sure what time it was, but usually it was Lefty who woke him up if he ever slept in, and Lefty seeing the two like this would t be a big issue, or any issue at all for that matter. Molten let the comfortable familiarity of sleep slowly creep up on him again, and he placed the softest peck on the top of Bryan's head as he felt himself slipping back into sleep.

Bryan woke up to the sound of rustling outside the tent, sounding like something was pressing up against the tent, and then Bryan noticed the faint sound of arguing in the background of the sound of birds chirping. Bryan slowly opened his eyes and almost jumped when he saw Molten so close to him, and he quickly recalled the previous night and for the first time noticed that Molten was completely wrapped around him. Bryan gently and slowly eased himself out of Molten's grasp, without waking Molten, and he began to walk to the tent door, freezing for a moment when Molten let out a grumble, but still didn't wake up. Bryan opened the tent door and saw a small, red fox sniffing the ground around the campfire, and when it turned to sniff at another spot, it caught sight of Bryan, stared at him for a few seconds and then ran off as quickly as it could, it must have been smelling the dead rabbits that Bryan's been eating. Bryan turned his head as he heard the arguing again, and realized it was coming from Foxy's tent, and Bryan felt bad once more for Jon before he ducked back into Molten's tent and closed the door back. Bryan slowly laid down on his side, facing away from Molten, and he jumped a bit when he felt Molten's arms wrap around his stomach, and pulled himself closer to Bryan, so his stomach was pressing against Bryan's back. Bryan smiled at this and slightly backed his head up too, so he could feel Molten's chest fur pressing against the back of his neck and head, and he relished the comforting warmth rolling off of Molten's systems, and the oddly soft feeling of Molten's fur, and he felt Molten rest his chin on top of his head, which only further comforted Bryan so he could easily fall back to sleep once more.

About an hour and a half later, Molten woke up to a gentle shaking of his shoulder, and he opened his eyes slowly to see Lefty staring back down at him, with Foxy standing in the doorway of the tent. "So uh-, Foxy was going to wake you up and saw you two like this, and now they're demanding answers," Lefty whispered with a nervous and apologetic tone as he made a small hand motion towards Molten and Bryan. Molten held back a grumble, and saw that Bryan was still sleeping, so he slowly shook his head and mouthed 'later' at the two before letting his head back down and closing his eyes again. "No, get up and wake Bryan, before I end up stabbing the both of you," Foxy ordered with a demanding tone, and Molten's ear flicked once before he opened his eyes again and glared angrily at Foxy, and let out a small growl as he instinctively-, due to be being a bear-, bared his teeth, which foxy immediately faltered at and stepped back a bit, looking at the ground, but they quickly recovered and stood straighter and glared right back at Molten. "With all due respect, sir, you may be my deputy, and you may have been my personal trainer, but with the scene playing before me, I have every right to demand answers no matter your role, I'd be able to do the same to Freddy if he was in this situation," Foxy stated with a determined tone, putting on a brave expression, but Molten could tell that Foxy was practically trembling underneath their fake show of bravery, they had balled their hands into fists, stood very stiff, with their ears pinned back flat against their head and their tail slightly curved around their leg, but Molten could also tell that Foxy wasn't going to give up. Molten grumbled again and mouthed 'fine' before motioning for the two to leave, which they did, and Lefty closed the tent door back as he left, before Molten slowly began sitting up. Molten gently shook Bryan awake by the shoulder and explained the situation with a calm, soft voice, soothing Bryan away from too much worry after just waking up, and Bryan nodded tiredly in response to everything. Molten stood after removing the cover of the sleeping bag from himself, and held out a hand for Bryan, who took it and stumbled for a moment before Molten helped him to stand, Bryan's body must  still be quite tired. Bryan gave Molten a grateful smile before walking towards the tent door, but he froze in place as he reached for the zipper to open the tent, he looked nervous and uncomfortable. Molten of course quickly noticed this and strode up behind Bryan, grabbing Bryan's waist from behind and pulled Bryan close, giving Bryan soft kisses on his neck as a reassuring gesture, but he quickly moved to placing soft kisses on the top of Bryan's head and cheeks when he felt Bryan flinch at the action towards his neck. Molten gently cupped Bryan's face in his hands, and tilted Bryan's head slowly, so Molten could look down into his eyes from behind, seeing Bryan smiling up at him lovingly, and he placed one final peck on Bryan's forehead before opening the tent for Bryan, moving from behind to beside Bryan as he let Bryan walk out first, it was odd yet amazing at the same time, for the two to be able to so easily comfort each other without a single word being spoken.