That Morning

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"Good morning, Sleepyhead!" Veneer slowly opened his eyes to see John Dory completely awake. He rubbed his eyes, "Hi, John." He tried to sit up, but something was starting to nag at the back of his head. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, especially for something first thing in the morning.

Then he remembered, it was that he knew, for the longest time at the beginning of his time in jail, John had been mad at him. During visits, he often snuck glares at him when the other bros weren't looking. At one point, he even vented his frustration at him. Veneer had taken a long time to recover. John didn't come for nearly two weeks, but then came back and, at the insistence of the others, apologized to him.

But that was such a long time ago, John had already warmed up to him and actually liked him now. Or did he? He gave John a nervous look, "Ummm...do I have to get up now?" John raised an eyebrow, this wasn't normal. Veneer never questioned anyone who told him it was time to get up and he looked a bit worried. John stood in Veneer's lap, "I think I should be asking what's wrong with you?" Veneer looked away as a lump started to form in his throat.

John knew this look. Something was bothering him, really bothering him. The minute Veneer put the back of his arm over his eyes, that settled it. John felt a wave of compassion and set a hand on Veneer's arm, "Kid, what's wrong? Talk to me." Veneer sniffled a few times, "Y-your not still mad at me...are you?" John gave him a shocked look, "What?" he began to stroke Veneer's arm, "Ven, why would I be mad at you?" Veneer couldn't hold it in much longer and began to sob.

John climbed up to Veneer's shoulder and went to work as the realization of what made him think this came to him. "Wait, were you thinking about when I first came to see you?" Ven uncovered his face for a moment and sniffled, "Mmmhmm." John, as best he could, began drying Ven's face off as he wasn't doing it himself, "Kid, hear me out. I was completely in the wrong. It was Velvet I should've given that yelling to, not you. Especially coming from a family abuse situation." Veneer held out his hand for John to step onto so he could get a better reach of his face. John went on, "I meant it when I said it. You're a really great kid." He looked Veneer in the eye, "And I could not be more proud of you than I already am." Veneer could feel himself almost stop breathing, "Really?"

"Yea." He put a gentle hand on the young Rageon's face, "Bring it in." Veneer brought him closer and they hugged for a few minutes. "John! Ven!" Bruce's voice rang out through the hall, "Come on for breakfast, we gotta get on the road!" John gave Veneer's face a pat, "You heard the man, we gotta move." He gave him a concerned look, "You all good now, Ven?"

"Yea, I'm okay."

"Alright, let's get the day started. We got a big city to get to and the road's gonna be calling our names soon."     

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