#aicolo

Red. That was the first thing Ecolo registered.

And then, they comprehended what the red was.

Blood. Oh, so much blood. They were covered in it; having the overwhelming metallic taste of it on their mouth.

But that wasn’t the only thing that was red, oh no.

It was also Ringo. She was red as well; yet not in the normal way. Sure her hair and parts of her outfit were red, but those weren’t the only things.

There were gashes all over her body as she lay in the pool of blood underneath her, along with a hole in the front of her neck like it was torn out.

And finally, they understood.

They did this to her.

Their friend. Their sister.

Their core started to crackle like electricity, panicked. They didn’t understand, how could this happen.

There was a presence behind them. A powerful one. They slowly looked behind them; their core starting to glow brighter with the building energy.

A dark, shadowy figure loomed over them with glowing red eyes, staring directly at them. They didn’t even need to see the distinguishable horns and wings on the silhouette to know who it was, they could tell from presence alone.

The figure growled, eyes narrowing; raising a clawed hand to attack.

Yet before it landed,

Their eyes snapped open.

Out. They need to get out. They need to get OUT.

Their core burst with the building energy, destroying the space rock they were resting inside (they didn’t particularly care to classify it at the moment, well, it’s more like they couldn’t due to fear) causing it to shatter to many pieces. As they felt the cool non-air of space, their core slowly fizzled to normal size and their heaving slowed as they came back to their senses.

Right. Of course. They were asleep.

They wouldn’t-

Couldn’t-

They clenched their head with their paws, making them notice the claws that had formed due to the new piercing pain from digging their claws into their nonexistent skull. Their hold softened; they couldn’t stay here, and not just for the obvious reason of they blew up the only sleeping spot they had currently. (They needed to distract themselves from that awful, awful nightmare anyways, and what better way than to figure out where to sleep for, well, however long they happen to).

They cou- shouldn’t go to Ringo, they can’t face her until they get over this. They can’t go to Satan, yes he would have somewhere for them to sleep, but if he finds out why? They would be seen as weak, an idiot; he can never see them like this. Similarly, they can’t go to Ex; they’re pretty sure he hates and/or deeply distrusts them anyways. So, they’re out of options.

…Well… except for one.

Ai. They’re basically friends right? They’ve hung out quite frequently after they found out he remembers them. Plus… he's kind enough to let them sleep on his bed right? (Somewhere within them, another reason tries to rear its head out; they pushed that feeling down deep, deep within them once more. Love isn’t a real thing after all).

Their matter scattered into the blobs that surround them, leaving only their core; it’s faster to travel this way. Yes, it technically uses more energy than how they travel most of the time, but it doesn’t matter that much. Where they’re going is safe, plus having less energy might help them fall asleep again.

And so, their core (and their entire being by extension) crackles like electricity, building the energy to quickly travel to the Tetra. And just as fast as the energy built up, they are gone in an instant.

—————————————

Tired, that’s what Ai is at the moment. It’s been what can best be described as a long day; making sure everything’s working on the Tetra (including making sure Zed isn’t malfunctioning somehow), fixing anything that needs to be, trying to block out Ess ranting about Tee being boring again (he loves his sister, he really does, but by the stars she can be a bit much sometimes), and of course having to deal with the twins pranking specifically him (sometimes there’s a small part in his mind that tells him to retaliate, to become less bark and more bite. The larger majority of his mind knows that’s not a good idea in the slightest).

His thoughts on the day left when he opened the door to his room and saw a lump covered in blankets on his bed. No… not a lump, he can see the dark blue paws, speckled with a lighter blue holding the blankets in place. It’s Ecolo.

(They’re still awake, they know he’s in the room. They just can’t let him know this, he may tell them to leave.)

He walked up to the bed, now noticing their face isn’t covered like the rest of them; their expression seems more unreadable than usual. He also notices their claws, he didn’t even know they had claws; what would even cause Ecolo to show them?

Before his mind could recognize what he was doing; he moved his hand to cup their face, using his thumb to caress it like one would a cat.

They had leaned into it, making a very faint noise.

(They didn't know what they were doing at this point; why were they enjoying this? What in their mind thought this was a good idea? And yet, despite the thoughts going through their head, they couldn’t help but be calmed by Ai's presence; becoming less tense as he held their head.)

Their claws seemed to become less noticeable, which was good he supposed; considering the possible implications of them.

They seemed less tense and more content in general now, which is good. In fact they seem sort of cute like this.

Wait.

What.

He retracted his hand, moving it and his other one onto his snout as he looks away from Ecolo. Oh dear, he likes them more than he thought doesn't he? He already knew his feelings might’ve not been entirely platonic about them, but this? Well, he might just explode from embarrassment.

He glanced back at them, he still needs to sleep, and he doesn’t want to wake them up.

(They are still awake, he doesn’t know this. He also doesn’t know that when he stopped holding their head, they felt a hint of disappointment. Or was it sadness? They don’t quite care for putting an exact label on their emotions like mortals do.)

He sighs, knowing he’ll have to get this over with eventually. First he removes the white parts of his outfit, folding them up and putting them away once he’s done. Then, he removes his turtleneck sweater, since it isn’t exactly comfortable sleeping in it, he learned that the hard way. He wears a dress shirt under it anyways, since it helps with wearing it throughout the day; if he didn’t it would be sensory hell, as one may say. After folding that and putting it away, he takes off his boots and then puts them near the door where they belong.

He’s aware of how long it takes for him to go to bed, he always has been, but now it seems more prominent than ever.

Finally, he takes off his glasses and puts them in their case, putting it back in the drawer where it belongs. And now he’s back to looking at Ecolo, who is still covered in blankets on his bed. Even after telling himself that he’ll have to do this eventually, he hesitates; it’s still a bit strange in an embarrassing way, he’s going to need to share a bed with someone and that someone is Ecolo.

Trying not to move them around too much just in case it wakes them, he nudges them to the side enough for him to comfortably lay on the bed; while also taking back at least one of the blankets covering Ecolo, he does sort of need them after all, since he doesn’t exactly have fur. He’s also careful to not touch them directly, he isn’t wearing his gloves anymore, so if he tried his hand would pass right through.

And when he finally settled, they inched closer to him and rested their head on his chest.

(It’s mostly instinct, since they are finally falling asleep. Even still, there’s a part of them that knows what’s happening and doesn’t care to stop it.)

Once again, Ai mentally goes through the motions of comprehending what’s happening and how he feels about it; this time he figures he’ll figure it out once he wakes up, it’s too late to be dealing with this.

And so, putting one of his arms around them, he starts to go to sleep.

—————————————

Neither of them ever mention it, but that night they both had the best rest either of them had in a long time.

Slowly overtime, it becomes a habit for Ecolo to sleep in Ai's room; neither of them comment on it, since it slowly becomes a normal thing for them. Yet neither of them bring up how they feel, how they really feel, and at that point neither of them want to; since it may ruin what they already have.