DragonBonds

Confessions

It had been about two weeks since Cloud was rushed to the Colvi hospital to recover from the breakdown his magic sent him into. The diagnosis didn't look good, but it also wasn't life-threatening either. According to his uncle Timtam, Cloud began to suffer from something called "magic poisoning". Basically, the magic that Cloud used had compromised his body due to the aggressive nature of the Drake dwelling inside him, and it began attacking him from the inside instead of working with him. It was odd to the doctor, seeing as Cloud was a part of the main Colvi family, and the last person to have had to deal with magic poisoning of this magnitude was when Heathcliff did his ceremony to join the family. But when Merlot explained the gravity of Cloud's situation, it made more sense that a malevolent Drake's magic would harm the host more than help it.

Every single one of Cloud's friends that were in attendance during the breakdown visited him at least three times during the two weeks he was there, but without fail, every single night, Andi would visit, sit in for a while, ask how he's doing, and when they felt like they were going to pass out, they would leave. But they would come every night after school, do their homework there, and just... Hope that today will be the day he wakes up.

And then, two and a half weeks after the incident, the day came.

Dr. Timtam finally gave the OK for visitors after Cloud's fever finally broke and his body started to repair itself. He was still asleep as his friends visited, and was asleep when Andi had remained.

The ringtail had been sitting beside his bed, bidding farewells to Connor, Vickie, and Khloe as they left. When they were finally out of the room, Andi's paw slipped into Cloud's and held it, their eyes fluttering closed as they hummed a soft little tune. The silence of the hospital room besides the monitors was deafening, and they wanted to fill the room with soft sounds.

Just as they were about to fall asleep, they felt a squeeze on their paw. Their eyes snapped open and they watched Cloud's face. The still calm that was painted on the cat's face twisted in pain, but when he finally opened his eyes, he blinked a couple of times and looked down towards Andi.

"... Hi," he breathed finally, rubbing his thumb pad against their paw gently.

The ringtail looked up to see their friend, finally awake, and their eyes watered as they realized... He was alive. They slowly stood up, eyes never leaving his, his eyes following them upwards as they stood, and after a second of staring at each other, Andi started to cry loudly and threw their arms around him, causing him to wheeze and pat their back.

"Ah- Andi, please! I'm okay, I'm okay!" He laughed weakly, holding them close. Meanwhile, Andi was a horrible mess.

"Cloud I'm so happy you're alive I had no idea if you would have made it through that a-and I don't know what happened but I was so scared and-" they cried, holding him close and muttering quickly.

"Woah! You sound like I've been dead for years. What happened?" He tried to joke, but his smile was only half-forced. His stomach twisted uncomfortably as he slowly remembered what he did, and he softly pulled Andi off of him to look them in the eyes. Their face was a mess, but he looked at them kindly.

"How long was I out for?" He asked them.

The ringtail pulled a tissue from their pocket and wiped their face, trying their best to wick their fur of all the moisture.

"I-I think it's been... Almost three weeks. Your fever was really, really bad, your uncle didn't let in visitors untill about a week ago. Told me it was, uh, magic poisoning. I guess your- your Drake's magic's real bad for you when you break down like that." Andi explained, using their unoccupied paw to keep their face dry.

Cloud sat back and listened to them, their mind whirring. Three weeks. That's... Such a long time.

"... It's funny, literally the only thing I'm worrying about right now is the fact that I probably missed a lot of homework." He laughed and looked at the ceiling.

"Oh! D-Don't worry about that. Miss Merlot told me she has your teachers in the loop. You don't have to worry." Andi said, a smile forming on their face. The calico smiled back at them and leaned back into the pillows, a gentle exhale blowing through his nose.

The two of them sat there for a while, a comfortable silence between them now. For a moment, they were content to laying there, but Cloud's eyes drifted to Andi's face and he stared at them for a while.

His face warmed as he stared at them, watching them breathe, their expression serene and quiet and happy. He saw their ears move at the little sounds the monitors made, watched their nose twitch a few times.

They'd been friends for years. Had they always been so...

Beautiful?

The cat squeezes his friend's paw and smiled at them when they looked at him.

"Hey Andi?" He said, a soft rumble cutting into his words. Andi looked up at him, and hummed.

"What's up?"

"I love you," he said with a smile, his face heating up.

"Oh! I love you too," they squeaked. Their quick reply was enough for Cloud to realize... They definitely didn't understand the weight of his words. So he reached over and grabbed their other paw, and held them, softly and close to his chest.

"No, Andi. This is... Different. It's how the moon loves her stars, or how the bees love their flowers. It's the kind of love that goes past everything we've ever known and brings us close together. This is more than what we've known since we were kids. Much, much more." As he spoke, his thumbs drew circles over the top of their paws, a soothing gesture, a genuine declaration.

He looked up at them, eyes filled with love that Andi thought it might spill over. And Andi looked back at him with the same love in their eyes

"Andi, I love you like my mom loves my dad, and I want to spend every moment with you. Would... Would you be my partner? I know this isn't really the best place to ask but it's the only place I have right now. And I don't think I would've been able to manage my feelings had I waited longer."

As he spoke, he watched Andi's eyes fill with tears, and watched their body tremble as they cried. He watched as his friend devolved into a sobbing mess and he pulled them close, his wings lazily wrapping around the two of them.

"Hey, hey, shh... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you..." He murmured to them, rubbing their back.

"I- I'm not ups-set... I'm really... R-really happy, Cloud. I never thought that- that you'd actually tell me that. That you... You liked me that way. I was so afraid that'd you'd either love me or abandon m-me eventually and I kept telling myself it'd be the latter because if- if I expected it it would hurt less but-" they let out a shaky breath and pulled themself into the bed with Cloud, curling up around him and holding him tightly.

"I would never leave you, Andi. Not in life, or in death. We've got each other forever, and that's a promise."

For a while, they stayed there, wrapped in each other's arms and relishing in the moment that they were partners.

A few hours later, Dr. Timtam came to check on them and saw them sleeping together.

He figured it best to leave them be, and let them get some rest.