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Flames lick at the night sky. The inky blue is filled with bright constellations that glitter similarly to the orange sand that coats the mesa, which Ren digs his paws into. He draws an incoherent pattern before kicking up sand and covering it.
Holliday sits nearby. They had both been caught by the night, too far away from Dead Dog Gulch to return without sustaining an injury or two, To which Holliday had set down a campfire.
The firelight glints off of Holliday’s cybernetic eye when he shifts. He pulls something out of his bag, and it’s revealed to be a glass bottle of some sort of translucent liquid. He stands and stakes it in the sand as close to the fire as he can get before sitting down again.
“Ehm. Sooo,” he tries, voice cutting through the silence: “catch any criminals lately?”
Ren laughs. “I would have caught that one guy if you hadn’t shot him, my dude.”
Holliday stops, then chuckles in return. “I really got him there, didn’t I?”
“You did.” Ren admits. “But I would've got him better.”
Holliday sniggers at that, smoothing out into something fonder. He looks at Kid from across the campfire with a playful smile.
“I don’t know why i haven’t asked you to go for a drink yet, you’re, ehh, very fun to be around.” he confessed. Under the moon and stars, he glows.
Ren shoots him a sly grin. “Are you asking me out, baby?”
Holliday snorted. “Do you want me to?”
Yes, says some locked-up part of his mind. Yes I do.
Ren laughs instead.
Holliday wordlessly pulls the bottle out of the sand. He hisses a bit as he does, the hot glass slightly burning his paw. He blows a bit on the rim of the bottle, taking a swig of the milky liquid inside before offering the bottle to Ren.
He takes it, bringing it up to his mouth and very pointedly not thinking of how Holliday’s lips were on it just moments before.
He hums in surprise as the liquid meets his tongue. It’s not liquor, as he expected, but is instead sweet, and warm, and with a slight spice.
“What is this?” he murmurs, taking another gulp of the mysterious drink.
“Honey milk, man. I make it myself. Got some spices mixed in there, you can taste them.”
Ren holds out the bottle for Holliday.
“What kind of spices?” he inquires.
“Ehh, the usual. Cinnamon, nutmeg, it gives it a sort of kick.” Holliday takes it.
There’s an interesting spark glimmering in his eyes as Holliday takes a mouthful of the stuff, drinking slow in a way that catches Kid's eye from across the campfire. They make eye contact, and for a split second, they both freeze, before he brings the bottle back down and passes it to Ren.
Ren fumbles for a millisecond and nearly spills it all over himself before righting the bottle and taking another swig, savoring every drop that touched his tongue. He gulps down the drink like a plant in drought.
He catches the way Holliday stares at him.
Ren looks away, face tinted red.
They both sink into silence. In lieu of facing Holliday, he turns and takes another drink from the bottle, the liquid sitting pleasantly warm in his stomach. An enderman chirps in the distance. His sleeve rolled up his arm, exposing an old scar.
“What’s that from?” Holliday asks. He shifts closer.
“Ah.” Ren shuffles back to face him. “...a cat. I tried to pick it up,and it didn’t really like it very much, if you know what I’m saying.”
“And what about that one?” Holliday’s fingers graze his thumb, a line of white scar tissue marring the skin there. His heart inexplicably begins to hammer at his ribcage.
“Cut myself. My Momma Dog always said that cutting apples was for the adults, but four year old me decided that was… err… a pretty garbage idea.”
“Oh, wow.” Holliday draws his hand back. Ren tries not to miss it.
“Yeah.”
Silence.
Holliday shuffles closer, then, and rests his head on his shoulder. (Which is very awkward, considering Holliday was much bigger than he is.)
“Mind passing me the bottle?” he says. He reaches out a hand. It hits against Kid's forearm.
In a warm daze, he hands it to him.
Holliday takes a sip or two, before staking the bottle into the sand nearby.
Ren feels a buzzing beneath his skin, as if he were about to explode just from simple contact.
He must be making a face, because Holliday laughs.
“You okay, man? You look like you’ve just seen a siren, or something.”
He looks up at the sky. He bathes in the starlight, thanking any deities that could hear that he has kept it together for so long.
Maybe he has. it wouldn’t surprise him, all things considered.
“I… I don’t know.”
Maybe there’s no going back.
Maybe he wants this.
Maybe he doesn’t.
“Uhh. alright.” Holliday gives him a look, and settles back onto his shoulder.
More silence.
“Uhm, are you, you know, okay?” Holliday speaks. He doesn’t move from Ren's shoulder.
Ren plasters on a smile.
“Of course I'm okay, my dude!” He says, smiling. He picks up the bottle of honey milk from Holliday’s side and chugs a little. “Anyway, wanna know about this one?” he wipes away the milk mustache that had been forming before pointing at a scar on his chin.
Holliday gives him an expression of slight concern, and, an ear flicks, before turning his attention to the scar. Ren silently thanks the minecraft gods for being in his favor yet again.
And. Oh. Holliday’s hand is on his chin. Oh god. He’s tilting his head back, and Ren swallows the feelings that are bubbling up and tries, desperately, to stay still.
Holliday hums. He rubs his thumb over the scar that blemishes the line of Ren's jaw.
After a few seconds of Ren staring into Holliday’s eyes and silently begging the universe to release him, he manages to squeak out an “Are you done?”
Holliday comes to from the trance he had been in and releases Ren's jaw. His face flushes red.
“Oh. Sorry, man, I don't know what came over me…”
Ren swallows again. “It’s okay, my dude. Let’s just… Can you promise me something?”
“Yes. Uhhh. yes. I can.”
“Promise me we’ll never become… something else.”
“Something else?” Holliday’s eyebrows raise.
“Yeah. like… something else. I don’t know what we are, my dude, but… I don’t know. I’d rather it just stay this way. ”
He doesn’t say anything, just a simple “Oh.”
“Do you promise?” Ren questions.
Holliday clears his throat. “Of course, man.”
They sit in silence again. Holliday returns to leaning on Ren's shoulder. In the morning, they’ll be found next to the blown out fire by the town deputy. They’ll be holding hands, asleep. The deputy won’t mention it. They both won’t mention it.
And that’s how it will be.