#c!dolly

"WAIT—" dolly quickly slaps her hand against the doorframe to stop her husband from entering. cub looks at her a bit incredulously, raising an eyebrow. dolly doesn't budge, squinting at him. "..babe, you can't be serious."

"i'm always serious, can't you see it on my face?" if dolly didn't know her husband, she would have thought he was actually unaware of what she was trying to suggest. annoyingly, he was really good at keeping a poker face, even when she was glaring holes into his face. "what?"

dolly bites back an eye roll as it crosses it's arms over her chest. "cub, look down at yourself." never one to refuse his wife (most of the time), cub glances down at his clothes. unsurprisingly, he's covered head to toe in splatters of dye, ranging from yellow, to green, to purple, and a concerning amount of blue and green on his hands and arms. "if you get any dye on my nice furniture, i will throw you out my window."

cub doesn't exactly doubt that, his wife is very strong. and he's witnessed her practically fling a hermit before, he would not put it past her to suddenly be able to launch him, even if he was twice it's size and weight. for about ten seconds, the two stare at each other, unwilling to back down. cub feels his lips twitch slightly upward, before he slowly raises his hands. dolly's eyes shoot open.

"NO!" the doll immediately squeals, ducking down and away from the door before he can grab her. "nonononono, please, come on! i just did laundry! you're such a jerk!" she yelps, half jogging backwards to keep her eye on him.

"what??" cub snorts, very amused by her senseless babbling. he slowly follows her around the outside of the tower, his hands still up and outstretched. "dolly, i just want a hug. i've had such a hard day at the firework factory, can't i relieve my stress by hugging my wife?"

"NO!" she immediately denies, shaking her head frantically. "you're doing this to piss me off—cub, seriously, i—just take a shower first! or go in the lake! hell, i-i'll even hose you off! why do you fight me on this every time!?"

"hm, oh man, that's a really good question…" the vex pretends to think, tilting his head to the side. "maybe because it's funny?" the smile on his face grows wider—sharper. "now come here and hug me."

"AGH! STAY AWAY FROM ME, YOU FREAK—" dolly's voice raises to a fever pitch as cub lunges at her again, immediately breaking out into a full on sprint down the hill the tower was on. cub, being a good husband, knows how to play the long game with her—and doesn't immediately sprint after it. no, that was an rookie move, especially when it came to someone like dolly, who has the ability to scale a small mountain in under ten seconds if she really wanted to evade a chaser.

instead, cub waits ten seconds, until she's out of sight. and then he waits another twenty seconds, because he knows his wife is going to take a while to find a spot to hide, when they both know she's going to choose the exact same spot she always chooses whenever she's trying to have time alone this season—the archway near the entrance of her tower, which is covered up by a plethora of vines and leaves on both sides. she's so predicable it's almost funny. he guessed he couldn't blame her though, there were only so many places to hide on such a short notice. cub takes his time walking down the hill, actually. to him, there's really no rush. dolly will still be there, the shower will still be there, and the dye, still fresh and damp on his hands, will definitely still be there. when he gets to the little alcove, he presses his back against the cold stone, and waits.

after a beat of silence, he hears the smallest bit of rustling, and the sound of his wife letting out a shaky breath. for a few more seconds, cub waits, and waits, and waits, until he catches sight of a delicate hand slowly pushing the vines away, and—

"AH! NO!" dolly shrieks when cub suddenly jumps in front of her and gently pushes her back into the alcove. immediately, the woman starts letting out nervous little giggles, her hands flying up to her mouth to cover them. "cub—cub, please, come ON—!" she can barely finish her sentence before cub basically tackles her down onto the grass, easily using his arms to cushion her fall, and keeping a good amount of his weight off of her.

"…you know, you are really bad at hiding." cub casually acknowledges, ignoring how quickly dolly attempted to swat and shove at him to escape. "i mean, just near terrible. you always choose the worst spot. i think you're worse than scar, and that's saying something."

"….shut up," if looks could kill, cub probably would be a pile of ashes right now. good thing they did not, and that dolly was really bad at keeping her giggles in check. "you still—y-you still have a chance to get up..and walk away right now." it's less like she's warning him right now, and more pleading. if cub was anyone else, he probably would have let her off easy.

cub, thankfully, is not anyone else. cub is exactly who, and where he wants to be right now. "i told you i wanted a hug." is all he tells her, before he quickly rolls onto his back, pulling her on top of him, and squeezing. the shout dolly lets exit her mouth is probably loud enough to alert people in an two hundred block radius, but cub doesn't exactly care. he's way too focused on getting dye wherever he possibly could—mostly on her dress, obviously, but the easiest place he could reach was her face, and the back of her neck.

"shhh," cub shushes his wife over her frantic shrieking and cackling. he's pretty sure she's called him every curse word in the book by now, but she's laughing so hard that he can't really make it out. "don't fight it, i'm just hugging you. can i not hug my wife? let me hug you, dude."

her squirming mometarily pauses, an indignant snort leaving her. "dude??" dolly laughs out, it's hands still weakly shoving at his hands. "are you serious, we're literally married! oh my god, you're such a geek!"

cub's only half listening at this point. not like he's trying to ignore her, never—but the way she laughed (her real laugh, not the polite laugh she does when she's in a crowd) always made his train of thought go a little bit off track. she was always attempting to be so much quieter—so much smaller than it usually was. she doesn't do it as much as she used to, but cub didn't really enjoy when she still tried. in fact, cub enjoyed when dolly the complete opposite. he liked it when she was loud. he loved it, actually. and the fact that he could make her laugh this loudly was something he almost honored. she looked so much better when she wasn't stressing herself out on how to be perfect.

…he's staring, he thinks.

"what?" dolly whines through a giggle, finally knocking cub back into the present. she's in the middle of weakly attempting to wipe the blue dye off of her cheek with the back of her hand. "what's that look for, old man?"

cub blinks a few times, before he gently shrugs. "what look?" he simply responds, deciding not to mention the natural fondness that had just washed over him less than three seconds ago. the vex presses both hands against the side of her face and spreads the dye around a bit more, snickering at the upset shout he gets.

"you're such a bully. you're so mean to me, all day!" the woman loudly complains, her bottom lip jutting out in an upset pout as she lightly pushes his hands away from her cheeks. "how do you sleep at night?"

"with your melatonin gummies." he snorts, slowly rearranging them both so dolly is slightly draped over his lap, his arms still loosely around her. when he feels her glare on him, cub only snorts again. "what? there's no one you can blame other than yourself. you're the one who married me."

dolly opens her mouth, but shuts it again with a little scoff, slumping her face against his chest. "that was before i realized you were a mega jerk times four." she snaps, but there's no venom left in her tone. "you were way nicer to me before we got married."

she wasn't exactly wrong, cub realized. way back when they first met, cub could tell that dolly was..he supposed fragile, was the word. and he wasn't really referring to the fact that she was made of porcelain. her mental and emotional state was—and he means this with all of the love in the world—as stable as a damp paper towel. so sue him for being a little careful with the idea of banter until they started dating.

"well, yeah." cub hums, leaning his weight back on the stone. "but that was before scar showed me what your limits were. and now i know you can handle me being a little mean, can't you?"

cub watches a steady shade of red creep up his wife's ears, and then down her neck. the doll purposefully avoids eye contact with him now, seeming more interested by the dye stains on his lab coat more than anything. "..whatever. i'm gonna tell scar you were bullying me today."

"he's not gonna do anything."

"…you're right, he's not gonna do anything." dolly repeats with a huff. "now, can we PLEASE go inside and take a shower? and put your coat in the laundry before it permanently stains."

"alright, alright." cub expects dolly to wriggle herself off him, but when she simply stares up at him, he raises an eyebrow. "are you, uh…gonna stand up, or..?"

dolly shakes her head quickly, wrapping her arms around his neck. "carry me?" she innocently asks, fluttering her long eyelashes towards her husband. cub likes to think he's immune to her usual tricks, but..

"yeah." cub's voice is just a fraction softer as he repositions his arms under her back and legs, grunting a bit as he pulls himself off the ground, lifting his wife with him. "whatever you want."

the doll giggles into the crook of his neck, and the sound makes "even if i want my pop up shop to stay open?"

"…come on, don't push your luck—"

"AWW! cub, please, it's the one thing i want—!"

a soft, persistent tapping on the window wakes dolly up from her exhausted sleep.

the girl doesn't exactly remember when she fell asleep, especially not on the floor of the kitchen, but she doesn't have much time to question when she got there when the tapping persists. briefly, she assumes that it must be a really persistent bird, even though it makes no sense that a bird would be tapping on the glass window to the rhythm of shave and a haircut, two bits.

the tapping pauses for about ten seconds, and dolly lets out a little sigh of relief. she curls back up against the floorboards, trying to allow herself to go back to sleep and ignore the gnawing feeling in her stomach. she hadn't eaten anything—mostly because she didn't have much to eat. she was trying to ration the remaining money she had, plus, she absolutely couldn't go outside. going outside was dangerous. people outside are dangerous. she could not be near people outside, or else she'd—

"dolly!"

the girl shoots up into a sitting position, a strangled gasp escaping her. dolly's head whips around to look for the sound of the voice, noticing the little flap at the front door was slightly opened.

"psst, dolly!"

"…hi scar." she sleepily sighed, forcing herself up onto wobbly feet so she can get closer to the door. there were a lot of dangerous people outside, but scar was the only person dolly could really count as someone safe. in fact, she'd say that danger came to him naturally, no matter how careful he was. "i'm…i don't want to come out and play today, sorry." she had been saying that for the past few weeks, and she wondered how many more times she'll have to say it until the boy finally gives up on her like everyone else has.

"nonono, that's not why i'm here—" scar quickly denies, and dolly can hear him shuffling around a little against the porch. "i need you to open your window a little bit."

dolly's stomach starts to twist at the request. she'd have to open the curtains for that. "..you know i can't. it's not safe." she feels so stupid saying it—but she can't think of another way to explain.

"it's safe, i promise," scar doesn't really seem to be budging on his request—which actually annoys dolly more than it distresses her. why did she befriend a boy so stubborn?

"you don't know that. it's not true." she's heard that promise so many times. it's safe, no one will hurt you, we will be here for you. it's a lie. she knows it's a lie.

"please? i have something to give you."

"i don't need anything." dolly denies a little too sharply. she doesn't know why she's lying, she needs a lot—like food, because her stomach keeps waking her up in strange hours of the night, and a new dress, because she got a bunch of holes in the skirt. and her parents. she needs her parents. she wants her parents back. they'd know what to do. they'd tell her to hear scar out, and to not be rude, and to brush her hair so she didn't whine about the tangles later, and, and, and, and—

"go away. i don't need anything. go away." dolly can't stop the words from flowing out as she rubs at her suddenly stinging eyes. "how many times do i have to tell you to go away until you finally do? i want to be alone, why won't you—?" she can't get her eyes to stop watering up, so dolly resorts to burying her face into her knees and hugging them as tight as she can.

for about ten minutes, dolly doesn't hear scar say anything, which makes her think that he finally got the hint and left. but now that he was actually gone, another pit formed in her stomach. even though she told him to go away, she didn't think she actually meant it. and she hoped he wouldn't actually listen for once.

"..are you still here..?" dolly hesitantly whispers to the flap. she expects to be greeted with silence, but the swiftness that scar answers with almost makes her jump.

"yeah," his voice is a little quieter this time around, and maybe a bit sympathetic. "i didn't want to go away yet, even though you told me to. it sounded like you were gonna cry."

dolly buries her face back into her knees, a low, tired sigh escaping her lips. "…sorry," she mumbled out, her voice slightly muffled through the fabric of her dress. she didn't know what to apologize for first. for refusing to come outside, for not being any fun to talk to anymore, for being so emotional and tired all the time, "i didn't mean to get mad at you."

scar makes a soft humming noise in response. "it's okay. i know you can't help it right now." even with his forgiveness, dolly feels so undeserving of it. of him."listen, i—i would put this through the flap in the first place, but it's too big. and i know you don't want me to come inside to see you, so that's why i was trying to get you to open the window."

"what do you even have..?" dolly huffs, shifting so she can sit on her knees now. "it's not jellie, is it?" she doesn't think the cat would be very pleased to be clumsily shoved through the window, no matter how patient she was with scar.

"no, she's napping. and when i told her to come on, she basically ignored me. lazy old cat." scar sighs dramatically, the sound of his hands lightly smacking against his pants slightly muffled through the door. "..will you open the window so i can give it to you?" his voice sounds so hopeful, that for a moment, dolly forgets about the overwhelming dread she feels at the idea.

hesitantly, dolly pulls herself up on her feet. "…just for a second..?" she asks warily, shooting a glance to the kitchen window. she'd have to climb up the counter to get to it, but it was impossible..

"yeah!" scar suddenly gets the energy back in his voice at the idea of dolly actually going with his idea. "i swear on my heart and soul, you won't even notice how small the opening is!"

she really, really doubts that, since he just said that the item he had was too big to fit through the flap. "..okay, just, um…hold on." when dolly hears the sound of scar's shoots padding to her left, probably where the porch chair is positioned right next to the kitchen window, she goes over to the kitchen counter, pushing herself up until she can scramble up onto the counter without slipping off the edge. her mom would scold her for climbing up like that, but she thinks her dad would have lifted her up onto the counter willingly.

"sorry, mama." she mumbles under her breath, before resting her hand against the edge of the curtain. instead of actually pulling it away so she can open the window, her fingers stay frozen against the fabric. it feels so silly—it's just a window. she wasn't jumping outside, and there wasn't anything scary on the other side—it was just scar. it's just scar. it's just…

scar's finger taps on the window pane, knocking her out of her head for the second time that day. the sound actually causes her to peek out from the curtain. scar looks the same as he did the last time she saw him, except maybe his hair had gotten a bit longer. when they lock eyes, scar gives her a really big grin and holds up a paper bag.

dolly's little hands close around the handle of the window, and with a deep breath, she pushes the window open about halfway. the hot air hits her face like a whip, and she almost wants to slam it shut again, before scar reaches in, and tosses the bag into her lap.

she glances up at scar in slight confusion, but he only gestures for her to open the bag. when she actually follows his request and peers through the opening of the bag, her eyes widen. "scar..!" she nearly squeals out in excitement, the most excitement she's felt in months, if at all. she had wondered why the bag felt so heavy, but now she knew why—because scar had filled it to the very brim with candy.

scar looks a little too proud of himself as he crosses his arms, puffing his chest out a little bit. "yessss?" he hums casually, snickering at how much dolly is basically vibrating.

"how?! oh my god, this must have cost an arm and a leg!" the girl gasps, pulling out a fistful of jellybeans and immediately stuffing them into her mouth. if she was a little less ravenous, she would have been a bit embarrassed at how she was acting.

"no, i—" scar seems to hesitate a little bit, before he suddenly finds the sky very interesting. "i got it for free, actually."

"what?! the candy guy let you take all of this?" dolly cries through her mouthful, almost feels envious about that, until she realizes that this is his gift to her. "but he's so stingy with how much we can get for even one gold piece—and he hates kids, so there's no way he—" the girl cuts herself off suddenly, raising her head up to stare at her suddenly quiet friend. "…scar, you..you didn't."

the boy makes a show of not looking at dolly, whistling a nervous tune under his breath as he does. dolly sits up a little bit straighter, her eyes widening again. "scar! did you steal this?!"

"shhh!" scar reaches over to cover dolly's mouth, quickly glancing around as if people hadn't long since stopped coming by to check on dolly. "jeez, dolly lolly, do you want the whole town to he—aAAH!" he cuts himself off with a shriek when he feels dolly's tongue run directly against his palm. the boy shoots her a halfhearted glare, but dolly is more focused on the fact he had committed a crime.

"how could you!?" she exclaims, this time in a lower volume. "he didn't see you do it, did he? he's probably not gonna let you in the candy store again if he did!"

"i know, that's why i got a big bag of candy instead of a small one." scar huffs, as if that suddenly fixes the problem of him committing a theft. "besides, not like that grump needs all that candy anyways. there's barely any kids living here, so i'm keeping him in business!"

dolly stares at scar as if he lost his mind. "scar, you keep someone in business by buying from them, not stealing their stock!" she scolds, reaching over and lightly tugging at his ear. "do you have anything, to say for yourself, mister?"

scar at least has the sense to look a little sheepish. but even when she's trying to be serious, scar just gives her a vaguely innocent smile. "well, you're happy now, right?"

the girl blinks at him briefly, surprised by his lack of defense. "..huh?"

"the candy, it made you happy for a little bit, right?" he repeats, pointing to the bag. "even though i stole it, i still got you to smile, and i think that's the important thing."

dolly cannot believe that somehow, scar is trying to defend stealing to her. and she's trying very hard not to crack another smile at how it almost convinces her to drop the entire lecture. "so you'd steal to make me happy?" she sarcastically questions, crossing her arms. she expects him to just joke back like usual, but scar just gives her a sweet smile.

"if whatever it is made you happy, sure. i would steal anything for you." in that moment, he sounds so genuine that dolly doesn't know what to say, especially when her heart starts beating a little faster at the sight of his smile.

"…you're silly." she huffs, trying to brush the strange feeling inside of her to the back of her mind. "you're supposed to say no, dolly, i won't steal again."

scar simply snorts at that. leaning back against the opening of the window. "no promises," he simply responds, before reaching a hand into the bag to pull out some candy for himself. "i think i have a talent for stealing, you know?"

dolly feels a headache coming on. "you have a talent of getting on my nerves, that's what you have."

"aww, you don't mean that~ i bet dolly on the inside is really happy i stole for her."

"NO, she's NOT—"