Archive of Our Own ^beta

After bringing Quinn aboard the Crimson light, she has settled in right away. Fox, Ash and Sheryl introduced themselves, and everyone was getting along well. Things finally seemed good, and for the first time in a long time, Gary really felt happy. He watched as Quinn laughed with Fox, about whatever it was they were talking about, before abruptly being snapped out of his own thoughts, only to realize there was one missing person in the room. Or, ventrexian. He looked around for a moment, only to discover he wasn't anywhere to be found around here, and wondered to himself when Avocato had snuck off. Gary made his way to the bridge of the ship, then to his own room, thinking that'd be the best place to start looking, and just his luck Avocato was surely in there. Gary stood in the doorway, knocking on the wall to get Avocato's attention.

Thoughts snapped through Avocato’s mind, quick and sharp. Confusion hitting him like a meteor. ‘What happened, why was- why did they- i don’t understand what happened..’ The pain of not knowing everything that happened and could happen hurt, after being so unsure that his son wouldn’t be killed just because he upset Lord Commander, flashbacks of those horrid times hopped into the others. ‘Oh, a knock. Someone’s here.’ Avocato looked up, finding Gary standing, looking at him. “Um.. hi.” ‘Fuck! That was the most awkward thing in the world!’ He took a deep breath, trying to avoid the others' eyes.

"Hey.."  Gary said worriedly. He looked around the dark room for a moment, before making his way inside, the door closing behind him. "Why aren't you out there with the rest of us?" He said softly, sitting down on his own bed. "Are you.. okay?" He could only imagine what the answer was. After everything that happened to him throughout these past four months, it would only make sense if he was hurt and confused. Gary just wished it wasn't the hard truth.

“Gary..?” He asked, voice cracking the tiniest bit, he felt the males body pull the mattress down as he sat, warmth radiating off of him. “I don’t... uhm.. I just..” He stopped, unknowing of what to say, he didn’t really know what exactly to say, is he okay? Miracle if he was, why did this all happen. ‘How could i let this happen? Uncertainty! That’s.. awful.’ Avocato glanced up at the blonde next to him, his hair got fluffier, he noted. ‘Why does he seem so concerned? Oh yeah, everything, just now. Quinn..’

Gary looked over at Avocato for the first time since sitting down. "I know.. a lot of crap happened. And you can talk to me about it if you want." He smiled, with a hint of sympathy, but still genuine. "You know I.. I missed you, a lot" Gary slid off of the bed, sitting up against it instead, bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. "Lil’ Cato missed you."

With those few sentences, he started thinking harder, more aggressive thoughts, ‘Why can’t you remember? You’re such a useless waste of a ventrexian. Not even able to talk to the person you trust most? You really are pathetic. You don’t even know what happened?!’ he was berating his mind with the shouts his conscience used. Breathing was getting the slightest bit harder, staying quiet though, not commenting on it. “I.. don’t...” he croaked out, voice sounding much scratchier than he would’ve liked.

Gary stayed silent for a moment, sighing before finally speaking again. "Avocato? You.. do remember what happened, right?" He tilted his head slightly, empathizing his confusion.

Silence, it was deafening to Avocato, but he was unable to speak. He opened his mouth, only to close it again. Sliding down off the mattress, he sat next to Gary, pushing his head into his own knees and wrapping his arms around his head and knees. A small shake of his head was all he could manage, unsure if Gary even caught sight of his silent answer.

Gary parted his lips, as if he wanted to speak, but couldn't muster a word. He placed his left hand on Avocato’s back, rubbing it soothingly. He didn't expect the metal to feel too good, but didn’t think much of it in the moment. "You should come out with the rest of us." he finally said, before waiting less than a second to add on, "only if you want! I mean- I uh. Crap." He sighed to himself, feeling worthless as he seemed to be unable to make his best friend feel better.

Avocato listened closely, taking in the sickly sweet voice, it was comforting, everything he wanted to hear. He just wanted different words, telling him what happened, telling him what he missed, where he was, everything he was uncertain about. However, he wouldn’t complain with what he got, it was a truly nice gesture. Avocato looked over to Gary—head still resting in his arms and legs— a small smile slipping onto his mouth, reassurance he’s doing a good job, “Maybe sometime.. not right now. Thanks though, Gary.”

Gary smiled softly, throwing his other arm around Avocato to give a one sided hug, burying his head into his shoulder. "That's okay! I'll stay here with you, if you want I mean. If you-" He lifted his head up, seeming a bit disrupted. "Unless you wanna be alone! I'll uhm, I'll leave you alone if you want man!"

Avocato, tensed at the action, soon relaxing into it, warmth, after all he felt was so much excruciating cold heat, this though, this was pure undying warmth. Another smile graced his lips, this one softer, admiring how smooth the other's hair is. Until Gary lifted his head up, smile faded, quickly returning after thinking about his offer, “I um.. I’d appreciate the company...”

"I- oh! Really?" He chuckled. "I mean that's. That's great! We have a lot of catching up to do, friend!" He sounded excited, forgetting about all of their problems, and really just wondering if there were any decks of cards around. "Just you and me bud! Anything you wanna talk about?" He smiled ear to ear, clearly happy to have his best friend by his side after all this time alone.

“Anything..” He murmured. Every noise he was making suddenly stopped, thinking of what to ask, where to start. ‘ What happened? I’m sure something bad happened knowing my track record, oh god, what if i caused the bad thing to happen. What if... what if I hurt Gary or Little Cato..’ As his thinking went on his breathing was shaky, getting faster, like a train speeding at him, the shaking of the carts, blaring noise of the siren. His throat was tight, air unable to enter, then quickly rushing in like a swarm of cicadas. It felt like a wildfire was erupting in the depths of his throat, rising until it burned out of his mouth, jaw going slack, trembling. His eyes were watering, slow tears spilled out, hitting his knees. Thoughts rushed through his mind about the infinite possibilities, the cold heat enveloping him. ‘What was happening?’ He didn’t know what happened then, what will happen in the future and not what was currently happening to himself, it hurt though.

Gary sat silent for about 10 seconds, in shock, not knowing what to do in this situation. "Avo-" He shook his head, trying to grasp what the hell was happening. "Did I say something? I- I'm sorry man!" He scooted away from Avocato in a hurry,  giving them immediate distance.  

Avocato could only hear the muffled sounds that were underneath the intense screaming scorching his mind, he frantically looked around, tears still falling from his eyes, shaking, quick breaths. He was clawing at the metal that was in his body, a pitiful attempt to get it off of him, get out of the cold heat, he wanted warmth, not the heightened pain he felt running through his body. Avocato’s scared eyes meeting with Gary’s. “C..mm. Please.. close.” he wheezed, voice cracking, trembling. ‘You look like a mess. A pathetic mess, all because you don’t know what’s happening? Pitiful.’

Gary, being the dense person he is, couldn't realize what it was Avocato wanted. He was scared, feeling helpless. His only chance to do anything was ripped away from him once the two of them were suddenly interrupted by the bedroom door opening. A familiar silhouette standing on the other side.

‘Look at you Avocato, some Dad you are, having the kid you thought was going to die everyday because of your insolence towards Lord Commander, stand in the door, watching you in the midst of a stupid panic attack you are having for no reason.’ His mind was racing, looking up at his son, flashbacks, being so close to shooting his son, the days when he wasn't held captive, everything flushing back into your mind. ‘Air, I need air, I can't breathe, it hurts, it hurts so much, it's so cold, please I don’t want this, I want to be warm, please! Stop!’ He screamed in his mind, mouth moving but no sound other than pathetic sobs leaving it. ‘Little Cato, please leave, don’t look at me, you can’t!’ He looked over to Gary, pleading with no words, breath hitching every few seconds.

"Dad?.." Little Cato peeked his head in, taking a look around the room, despite it being a bit too dark to see much anyway. "What's.. going on? The others are asking about you two.." he took a step into the room, only now seeing the position his dad was in. "Dad?.." he asked again 

Gary picked himself up from the floor, walking up to his son and placing a hand on his shoulder, nudging him a bit over back towards the door. "I'll be out soon spidercat. Just give us a couple minutes bud," he smiled reassuringly at little cato. 

"Oh... okay?" The small ventrexian answered in a questioning manner. "Don't take too long, Thunder Bandit, in getting hungry." He chuckled before running off, the door closing after him. 

Gary sighed, still standing in the doorway. He looked over at Avocato, who was still on the floor looking miserable. In the moment he was glad he couldn't see the hurt in his eyes. "Avocato..." he simply said, waiting for an answer, despite not exactly expecting one.

“Gary..” He choked out, gasping, his throat was burning a lot, his jaw hurt to move, agony was striking him a bit too hard in the mind and body today. Avocato looked up to where his son and Gary had just been, the blonde still standing there. Avocato reaching his arm out despite all the protesting his body was doing, he just wanted to feel warm, not the mistreatment he was experiencing. He just wanted to be held, someone to tell him what happened, how it's going to be okay, in their sickening voice, their ever so comforting voice, the tuff of their hair pressed against his fur, that's all he wanted, was it so much to ask for?

Gary caught Avocato’s eyes from across the room, making his way towards him while his eyes stayed fixated on his bright yellow ones. He sighed, getting down on his knees and scooting himself closer to Avocato. He wrapped his arms tightly around him without another thought, grabbing onto him as hard as he could. Gary nuzzled his forehead into the crook of Avocato’s neck, tears streaming down his cheeks as he did so. Avocato was soft. Albeit he already knew this, and appreciated it greatly, but feeling it like this was different. Comforting.

An intense soft warmth slid around his body, holding him, the soft blonde hair pushing against his fur, ‘why.. why do i have to be so needy.’ Avocato’s breath was steadying, tears still streaming down, his body still shaking, but he was warm. It would be ok, he wasn’t... he’s here. He let his head rest against Gary’s, being the only way he could show his appreciation at the time.

They sat like that for a while. At least it felt like it. There were moments where Gary wanted to say something, but maybe silence was better. After a long while, Gary pulled away from Avocato, wiping his face with his jacket sleeve and sighing. He stared Avocato in the eyes, looking like he expected to hear something. Once nothing came from the ventrexian, Gary decided to speak up himself. "What.. uhm." He sighed quietly, looking to the floor. "What should we do now?" He scratched his chin with his robotic arm nervously.

“I don’t— know.” His voice cracked, although he didn't berate himself, just a light laugh, letting himself get a tiny bit more comfortable. Avocato could still feel the cold heat creeping up around him, not as suffocating, but there. ‘God, I really am needy..’ He gave a pained smile to himself, “Can we just um, stay, like that.. not like that but uhm. you kno’?”

Gary chuckled lightly, pushing himself closer to Avocato. "Gosh, you're like.. not very good at talking about feelings are you?" He questioned, although knowing the answer very well. He smiled heartily before hugging Avocato again, this time more rough than intended. He was excited, rather than upset.

Almost the second Gary went in to hug Avocato, he twisted his body, shoving his face into the other's chest, wrapping his arms under his, kind of like a weird roller coaster seat belt. He held on like his life depended on it, taking in the being that was, is, Gary. His scent was comforting, the way he could feel his heartbeat, knowing he’s alive. Basking in the warmth once more, he loosened his hold, still keeping it tight, a few tears roaming his face.

Kvn roamed the ship, in search of his ‘best friend’ “Doo do do dooooo~” He sing-songed to himself, stumbling across Gary’s room, so what better thing to do than just hop on in! He won't mind, best friend and all. Kvn rushed in the room, announcing his presence, “Heyyy BestFriend!! And-nd how are we on this finee evening?” His eye was glitching slightly, making him look, insane to say the least. He found Gary and Avocato on the floor... hugging? Or or or orrrrrr!! What could he possibly be dooing?!?

Any bit of relaxation or happiness Gary had had, was now gone in one instant. "Ju- shut the hell up kvn!!!!" He got up from the floor, letting go of Avocato and turning towards Kvn, making a fist motion and throwing it towards the useless waste of life hovering before him "Don’t you have anything better to do? God kvn! I- " He massaged his forehead with great annoyance. "Kvn. I swear to god . What the hell do you want?" His patience couldn't possibly be worse.

“Well look harrd and lo—ong buddy oh boy best friend!!!” Kvn chimed, eye smiling, “I came in seaaarching of you!!!! My besteststtt friend in the whole wide spacetim—e continuum!! Isn’t that just great G-aa-ry!” he spoke, enunciating Gary’s name, spinning around the blonde. “You know! I searched this ship farrrr and widde only for you to be in your room!!! Gosh Gary you made me do so much work! But it i—s A-Okay!” He chimed once more, voice glitching more. What could Garyy possibly being doing without meee!

Gary sighed long and hard, pure annoyance radiating from his body. "Yes okay, I get it-" He pushed Kvn away from himself with full force "Mkay, but do you mind freaking telling me what the hell you came here for?" He glanced over towards Avocato "I'm kind of busy right now. Kay, so speak up, and then go die."

“Hmm?? Hmhmhmmmmmm??????? What!?! Do I really need a full re—ason to see my beststttttt frienddd?? Oh oh Gary.... How... cruel!!!” Kvn said, eyes glitching more so now that he was quickly moving around gary, his hand bit, being brought up to his cheek, “Oh G-aa-ry, woes m—eeee!” In an instant he stopped, whipping right in front of Gary’s face, eye smile all big and open, “It’s o—kay though!! I forgiveeee you bessttt friend!”

"Piss off kvn!!" Gary immediately grabbed Kvns face with both hands and threw him hard across the room, all the way to the doorframe. "I dont needa deal with your crap right now kay- actually, ever! So do me a quick favor and go get burned alive or something, I don't care, just leave me the hell alone. Alright- thanks " He pressed the button to the side of the door, slamming it shut with a hiss. "Jesus chriiiiist" he whined, turning around dramatically and taking a seat on his bed, letting out a loud Huff as doing so. "God I hate Kvn so much.." he may have completely forgotten Avocato was even there, not paying any mind to him at all.

“Ah...” Avocato sat there, stunned, it has happened plenty of times before, Kvn interrupting a serious moment, but, why now? ‘ Is Gary going to hug again..? Does he not want too? Does he not like me? Is it because of something I can’t remember?’ The thoughts ran through his mind, not getting him to freak out this time, just stay there, shocked. His arms previously wiping his tears, fell into his lap with a light thud. “Ah... I..”

Gary suddenly gasped after hearing the sudden noise, not recalling the fact he wasn't alone. "oh-" he whipped his head around to see Avocato still sitting on the floor, suddenly realizing what Kvn had interrupted in the first place. He inhaled sharply, getting back up from his place on his bed and looking down towards his best friend.  "Oh right! Avocato. I uh." He looked nervous, glancing over at the door multiple times before finishing his sentence. "I gotta be honest. I completely forgot you were there ahah," he scratched his head anxiously. "Hey what d-" he seemed to finally know what to say, but was then intruded on for the third time this evening. "Ah- what the crap kvn, I swear to go- oh." He immediately calmed down as he saw his son in the door once again. "Uh dads.. I uhm" he looked over at Avocato, seeming a bit worried. "I don't want to uh- ruin whatever is going on here or anything..  but uhm, you've been in here for a while. Quinn made food." He smiled lightly, "she thought you two would be hungry." He shrugged, still smiling. Gary gave a quick look to Avocato, then back to their son. "Yeah! We'll be right out small fry." He ruffled Little Catos mohawk, smiling down at the laughy child, before watching him run off in the distance. 

Gary stood there for a moment, then back over at Avocato. "We can talk more after kay? You should come eat." He smiled sweetly.

Avocato stood up, flustered, finally realizing what at just happened. He looked at Gary with wide eyes, then sitting down on the bed, sinking in. He put his head in his hands, nodding. “Mmm, yeah, um.. I’ll go. Wait no-! I- Aughhn....” he whined softly, “Yes, yeah I’ll go.” He stood back up, smiling at Gary, having calmed down, he could really take in everything. Almost everything.

Gary left the room, watching Avocato leave after him then by his side to the rest of the team squad. Quinn had laid out plenty of food for everyone on the dining table. The food was a mystery, it clearly wasn't anything Gary recognized, which was weird considering he hadn't thought Quinn would be able to prepare anything that wasn't from their home planet, but nonetheless he was impressed. "Dads! You're just in time!" Little Cato stood up on his chair in glee, beaming at his fathers. Gary returned a genuine smile, sitting down in between his son and best friend, who was yet to sit down.

Avocato heard his son speak but not really hearing it, he heard the sound, not listening. He was staring off into space before snapping out of it to hurriedly sit down. He nervously glanced around at everyone, scared. Why was he scared? He didn’t have any reason to be. He looked over at Mooncake before relaxing just a bit.

Mooncake floating around before, found his way to Gary’s face, hugging him, “Chookity pok?” ‘What happened?’ he questioned, nudging Gary in the face.

"Hmm?" Gary hummed, "what do you mean?" He held onto Mooncake, looking him in the eyes while talking. Quinn had already sat down, and was surely enjoying her food as well as Ash, Fox, and Sheryl were. Hue sat down and enjoyed the presence of everyone, due to the fact he can't eat. Little Cato was paying more attention to what Mooncake had said, listening closely.

Mooncake grumbled, nudging Gary's face to a vacant looking Avocato, “Chookity pok.” He asked again, eyes sparkling while looking at Gary’s face. Mooncake turned his gaze to Littlecato, then back to Gary. “Choockityyy..” 

Avocato was there, at the table next to Gary, his best friend, though he would probably have preferred if he stayed in the room, but he couldn’t deny that smile Gary gave him. He stared blankly at the table, hands having fallen in his lap.

Gary frowns, suddenly realising what Mooncake is referring to. "Don't worry Mooncake." He squeezed his little buddy close to him, pressing their foreheads together then whispering "I'll deal with it once we're done eating. He'll be fine" He smiled at Mooncake, petting him softly on the head. "Now Quinn!" he said suddenly, catching the attention of the girl in question. "Aha w-what is this anyway?" He chuckled as he spoke, pointing down his plate full of the mystery substance. "Hehe- just try it. I'm sure you'll love it." Quinn gave a warm smile, watching as Gary tried the food she had cooked. And sure enough, he did love it. He complimented it, still not having a proper name for what he was eating, but that was fine. Little Cato still hasn't touched his food, being too worried about his dad.

Avocato stared at the food, regretting coming out here, he was uncomfortable, he didn’t want to be around so many people after just coming down from a bad type of high, he just wanted to sit in the room and sleep maybe, just.. maybe. He quietly stood up trying to not cause attention to himself, he leaned over to Gary’s ear, “Hey.. um I’m gonna go back to the room, tell Little Cato he should eat, uh.. get me if you need me.” With that he rushed out of the vicinity, heading back to Gary’s room, once there he sat on the bed, relaxing into the corner of it.

Gary shockingly looked over into the direction Avocato ran off in, and only waited a moment before getting up from his own seat. "Where you goin’?" Little Cato asked as he observed his dad. "I uh- you stay here n’ eat bud. I'm just gonna go check up on your father." He nodded his head in the direction that leads to his bedroom. Little Cato nodded slowly, clearly still nervous about what was going on with both his dads. With that, Gary took off to his bedroom, neglecting the need to knock before entering.

Avocato’s eyes shot to the door, watching Gary closely, “Aren’t you gonna go eat..?” He questioned, tilting his head, scooting further onto the bed, for the sake of security. “I mean, the food did look pretty good.” He placed, looking Gary straight in the face, ‘he has pretty eyes, hah.’ he thought.

Gary shrugged, scratching the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah.. It was- hah- pretty food but er- I uh..." he let his hand fall to his side, clenching his fists. "You're more important to me." He gave a half smile, carefully sitting down next to his friend. "And I.. want to uh.. make you feel better." He smiled through the Last part,

Avocato was nervous, he was going to ask, to know what happened, if he had hurt anything, anyone.. if he hurt Little Cato, Gary. Avocato sat criss-crossed on the bed, pulling Gary to do the same, he looked up at the ceiling for a moment before groaning, coming to his senses. “Gary, what happened...?”

Gary blinked at Avocato, visibly confused. "I- what happened?"  He pressed his fingertips together, not understanding what Avocato was referring to, and was embarrassed to have thought he was still talking about the food. Maybe he was just still a bit hungry.

“You know.. When I wasn’t, here? With you. What happened? What did I do?” Avocato looked at Gary with expecting eyes, puppy dog eyes really, wanting the answer, to know what of all he did, who he hurt, what happened, to get rid of the uncertainty helping the thoughts run through his mind like a broken record player. “Please...”

"You mean... when.." Gary sighed, looking down onto his hands to avoid eye contact. "Invictus..." he shook his head slowly, shaking away all of the bad thoughts. "I... Avocato you don't need to know any of that. We're fine now! We can.. we can finally be happy! All of us." he groans, "after we get out of here at least... out of final space." He glanced back up to Avocato, checking if he was looking at him, sure enough he was. He seemed disappointed. It gave Gary a sharp pain in his chest to look at.

“Gary, I do need to know it, what I did, if I hurt anyone, if I hurt Little Cato, or you.. I need to know that Gary, please.” Avocato put his hands on the others shoulders, trying to get him to understand, his puppy dog eyes getting more sparkly, he wanted to know this-no he needed to know.

Gary suddenly looked extremely disrupted. He never wanted to even think of it again... what Avocato did. He tried so hard to forget what had happened after invictus took over the body of someone he thought would never hurt him. For a while after that, he couldn't even close his eyes without seeing Avocato in that state. Come to think about it, he hasn't been able to properly sleep at all for months. "Avocato..." his voice cracks while he calls out his name, blinking back tears. "I don't want.. I.." he can't get the words out, and just decides to cry instead. He knows how stupid and pathetic he looks, but he figures that's how he always looks anyway.

Avocato started panicking, eyes widening, frantically searching Gary’s face, tears. ‘Oh, he’s crying. He’s crying!?’ He steadily put his hand on Gary’s cheek, rubbing his face with his thumb, Avocato instinctively started whispering sweet nothings to calm him down, “Hey it’s ok, you are ok, nothing’s gonna hurt you, you’re ok Gary,” he spoke, probably the softest he ever has, his eyes softened, speaking nothing but unconditional love and support, reassurance he will be ok.

Gary pulled back, wiping his face aggressively. "Crap.... I didn't mean to.." he groaned painfully "I'm sorry about that man.. I just.. I don't really want to talk about what happened.. I'm sorry." He wiped his eyes more, making sure they were completely dry before finishing his sentence. "I know I'm probably just being overly dramatic, yknow, like always.. but I dunno." He seems highly uncomfortable. Not with Avocato, but himself. He feels ashamed.

Avocato smiled, “Hey, it’s ok Gary, you aren’t being dramatic, it was probably a lot to handle, yeah? Don’t be sorry.” Avocato leaned back, thinking for a second. He pushed himself back in, giving Gary a hug, “It’s um.. It’s okay to get worked up, ya know..” He pushed his head in the crook of the blondes neck, “It’s okay to not always.. push everything down. I just wanted to.. Just thought you should know, It’s okay.”

"Mmhm..." Gary hid his face in his hands, leaning his head down. "Its fine- I mean I'm. I'm fine." He lifted his head up, looking Avocato in the eyes. "Are you.. tired?" He didn't know why he had asked that. Although it was clear that Gary hadn't slept in awhile, by the bags under his eyes. He never worried about himself though.

“Kind of- maybe. Uhm, yeah I am pretty tired.” Looking straight back at Gary, scanning his face, dark eyes, pale face, every sign showing he was so obviously tired. Avocato wasn’t much better though. “Are you tired though?”

Gary chuckled, looking away from Avocato. "Oh-I ahah. I'm not gonna sleep." He said it so casually, as if it was something everyone oughta know and be okay with.

Avocato gave him a concerned look, sighing. “Gary... You look like you could pass out in a matter of seconds.” he plated, voice laced with apprehension, a lot of it. He pushed himself so he was in Gary’s field of vision, “Come on man.”

"I didn't say I'm not tired?" Gary paused, squinting at Avocato. "I should help Quinn clean up out there" he glanced over at the bedroom door, attempting to change the subject without even meaning to. "Hey, you didn't eat did you? You should eat man!" he gave a sad smile, trying to stay positive.

“Gary, man. You should sleep. Seriously, take a breather. You don’t have to always help ya know? I can go out and eat later, m’ not that hungry. Plus, there are plenty of people to help, they probably already cleaned.” He smiled back, his teeth showing, eyes shutting a bit.

"Are you sure?.." Gary looked so sad while saying this. "What if something big happens while I'm asleep? Crap what if-" he gasped dramatically, "what if a titan comes??" Although it seemed more like a joke, he was clearly actually worried.

“Gary, I'm sure, if a titan came you would be able to tell, plus I'm sure Ava would wake you up. So, I am sure, very sure that you need sleep.” He said accusingly, pressing his pointer finger against Gary’s chest.

"Hmmh... I guess maybe I could sleep a bit." He sighed deeply, looking defeated. "Just for a bit though, ‘kay?"

“Mhmm, yeah, just a bit man.” He grinned, putting his hands against Gary’s chest, pushing him down. He crawled up to Gary, removing his hands from his chest, opting to wrap on around his waist, the other between them as he laid on his side, curling up against the male. “Now sleep..” Avocato murmured, closing his eyes.

.

Little Cato walked down the hallway, slowing down once he arrived at his dad's room. He stood there for a moment, sighing as he stared down the large metal door hiding what was inside. He was so worried about both his dads recently, with Gary never sleeping and overworking himself, as well as Avocato being closed off ever since the incident with Invictus took place. He knew they both must be extremely stressed over all of this, especially since they were all still stuck in final space. He just hoped things would get better soon.

Ash roamed through the ship, looking for someone to hang out with, unwanting of Sheryl’s company. She continued only to find Little Cato in front of his dad’s room. She hurried over to him, calling out, “Hey, hi Little Cato!” She beamed. Ash reached the boy, put her hand on his head to pat him lightly.

"Oh! Uh- hey.. Ash" little cato was caught off guard, but was relieved to see who it was. "Hey uh..." he started, wondering for a second if he should even have this conversation with someone like Ash, but decided it would be good to talk about it at all. "Do you think my dads are acting a bit... weird?.. or er- is that just me?" He scratched the back of his neck nervously.

“Hmm? Aren’t they always weird? Do you mean how they act off? Cause then yeah, totally.” She spoke, turning the upper half of her body to be in line with Little Cato’s. When she thinks back on it, Gary was acting weird after he came back with Avocato, Avocato too.. ‘I wonder..’

"Yeah, so..." Little Cato crossed his arms, leaning against the door. "What do you think is up with that?" He attempted to listen in on whatever was happening on the inside, but sighed when he heard nothing but silence.

She put her hand to her chin, in a thoughtful moment, quickly dissipated when she realized, “Maybe it has something to do with what happened? I mean, dying and all. Avocato did hurt you guys so maybe he remembers it?” She put out, pointing a finger up in the air.

“Oh god right.. he did do that huh." Little Cato hadn't thought about the fact Avocato remembered what happened. If he did even. "Should we talk to them?" He stood up straight, arms still crossed.

She nodded vigorously, smiling. “We could see if they are okay! Intervention type style.” She said, putting her right hand in front of her, moving it to the side in a movie way, making her statement all the more dramatic than needed. “I hope they are really okay.” She said, patting Littlecatos head once more.

He smiled heartily at Ash, grabbing onto her arm and leaning into the touch. "Myeah... me too." He totally wasn't purring.. "Should we talk to the others about it? They could help set it up" He questioned, his eyes closed.

She looked down at Little Cato, admiring him, a smaller but softer smile tugging at her lips, “Yeah, I think we should. Maybe they would know what to do better too.” She said, replacing the pating for light rubbing.

He pulled Ash's hand down from his head and into his own, pulling her with him as he walked down the hallway. "Alright! Let's tell em now then." He was smiling, mostly excited to be hanging out with Ash, but also determined to help his dads out. "We should talk to Quinn first. She's smart" he went on, still dragging Ash with him.

They reached the dining hall where Quinn was, Ash looked around before her eyes landed on the woman, “Quinn!!” She shouted, using her freehand to cup around her mouth, leaving the other in Little Catos hold.

Quinn noticed Ash's call, turning around in question. "Hmm? Oh hey Ash!" She smiled sweetly at her, walking in the direction of the two. "What's up?" She had a mug in her hand, probably coffee.

“We want your help with something, you’re smart right? Yeah. Sooooo, could you help us with an intervention type thing for Gary and Avocato?” She pleaded, tightening her grip on Little Cato's hand. “We really wanna know if they’re okay because they’ve been acting weird recently..”

Quinn took a sip from her mug. "Hmm." She hummed. "What kind of 'weird'?" She questioned, not really noticing anything off about the two actually. Maybe she just wasn't paying much attention to them, she thought to herself.

“Gary hasn’t been sleeping and overworking himself too much! And and Avocato- he’s been really cold to everyone, staring off into nothingness, not speaking to people, even Little Cato!” She spoke, eyes shining with sparkles, a puppy's eyes.

"Hmm..." She took another sip. "I'll gather up the others. Maybe if we have nothing better to do, we'll help out. Just dont worry ‘bout it, ‘kay kid?" She gave a half smile before walking off in the direction to Nightfall's past room.

“Thank you!” She shouted again in the direction Quinn went off to. Ash turned to Little Cato, taking his other hand, smiling. Soon going to pet him, “We’ll see what’s up with them soon, yeah?”

Little Cato laughed nervously, a little disputed by the way Quinn phrased that, but overall still happy for his dads. "Yeah. Heh- I sure hope so... thanks for helping me out Ash." He gave her a genuine smile, extremely grateful to have a friend like her.

“Of course Little Cato.” She gave a soft smile, moving her hand down to rub the side of his face, “Now, what do you say we hang out? I’ve been in desperate need of someone to hang out with!”

Little Cato laughed devilishly, crossing his arms. "Oh really? Why don't you just hang out with Kvn?" He giggled at the end of his sentence, not being able to get it out in a serious manner.

She laughed, reeling her head back, “Hahhe you really overestimate how desperate I am right now aren’t you!  Anyways! Let’s go!” She beamed, this time dragging Little Cato around.

.

Quinn made her way to her new room, surprised to see who was inside. "Kvn." She said deadpan, like she was used to his random appearances. "Kvn, have you seen Mooncake? It's important." She walked closer to the bot, placing one hand on her hip once coming to a stop.

Kvn spun around, eye smile right where it always was, “Mo—ooncake???? You, want meee to help with something importAnnntttt!!!! Okie-Dokie! WAIT!!” He’s stopped, putting his arms out to stop every noise that was ever made. “I geeett itt n-ow! yyyou want to be my NEW bestfriend!!! I’m sorrrryy but I already have G-aa-ry!! Hmph!” He said, voice messing up into high and lower frequencies ever so often. He crossed his arms, an upset expression crossing out for the smile.

Quinn sighed, pushing past Kvn with force. "No Kvn, I don't want to be your best friend." She quickly gave up trying to ask Kvn for help, and instead looked towards the ceiling of the Crimson ight for answers. "Ava." She waited for a response, which came almost immediately. "Yes Quinn?" She answered. "Can you tell me where Mooncake is?" She asked, fiddling with a pencil on Nightfall's past desk. Quinn often felt horrible for being the reason for Nightfall's sacrifice. She felt as if she was just a replacement to everyone. "Of course dear." Ava replied, monotone as always. "He's in the hangar bay along with Tribore and Fox." Quinn smiled, taking off out of the room. "Thanks Ava." She said once the door closed behind her. "Any time." Ava blandly replied. Quinn entered the hanger bay, greeting Mooncake and the others with a simple "hey?"

Kvn sighed.. “Everyones me—an to kvn, haha not my besssssttst friend thoug—h!” he beamed, demonor changing in an instant. 

Mooncake looked over to Quinn, exiting the conversation he was having, “Chookity?” ‘What’s up?’ he inquired, floating over to her.

Quinn chuckled at the sound Mooncake made. How could anyone possibly think he wasn't adorable? "Hey Mooncake. There's something I need to tell you." She glanced over at Fox and Tribore, who were quiet clearing eavesdropping. "You two as well actually." At this, the two came closer to Mooncake and Quinn, helping themselves to the conversation. "Little Cato and Ash told me they wanted to have an intervention f-" she was cut off quickly by the sound of a familiar gasp. "Oh my gosh! An intervention!" Tribore clapped his hands in glee. "I love these! Whats it for this time? Oh- lemme guess- Fox's loud snoring?" He said the last part in a whisper like tone, despite it being loud enough for everyone in the room to hear clearly. "Hey! I do NOT snore loudly!" Fox defended himself, rather hurt by the comment. "Mm, no. It's not Tribore." Quinn stated, looking irritated. "It's for Gary and Avocato. Apparently the two have been acting 'off' lately, and we should see what's up." She looked around the room, waiting for a response from any one of them.

Mooncake floated up, determined eyes as he scanned the others, “Chookity pok, choockity.. Pok choòkity choo!” ‘I think we should help.. For Avocato and Gary!’ he said, leadership taking over as he nodded his head, happy with how he worded things. He went back down, pushing his side against all their faces.

"Alright." Quinn replied, nodding her head. "Then let's get everything set up. We're going to take this seriously, okay?" She eyed everyone in the room, to which they responded by nodding.

.

Avocato woke up, head on Garys chest as they held each other, ‘He must really miss me aha.’ he thought in a sarcastic tone, his face completely soft though. Ruining the perfectly good moment, his stomach. ‘When was the last time I ate..?’ He pondered quietly as he slowly pushed himself out of Gary’s hold and off the bed. He left the room trying to remember, unfortunately nothing came to him. Mindlessly he made his way to where the food would be, getting lost once or twice. At the fridge was Sheryl, the lady who was supposedly Gary’s horrid mother. He stared blankly at her as he grabbed some of the unseen food, and got utensils. “Soo... You and my kid datin’ or somethin’?” the lady questioned. He choked on the piece of food that was currently being eaten. ‘Ahem..’ “N-no. What? Where did you even-?” he sputtered, face red from the lack of air he just received. “Well I dunno kid, you two seem close. What’s up with that?” “We are best friends? That’s what’s up with it.” He sighed, going back to his meal, “Well, Uhum. Then..” He stopped her with the screech of his seat as he got up. “Let’s not. Talk about that, uh, lady.” He pursed his lips, uncomfortable.

Little Cato had been listening in on the whole conversation, after following his dad once seeing him finally leave Gary's room. He had to rely his best not to laugh as Sheryl insinuated a relationship between his two dads. He realized that it would make a lot of sense, given the fact that they had a child together, but he didn't think about it too much. He jumped up after hearing footsteps coming his way, attempting to run, only to bump into his unsuspecting father.

Avocato felt a smaller figure dump into him, shock filling his body as he gasps, stumbling back. He looked around, eyes slightly widened, he caught his son in his vision. ‘Look at you Avocato, startled by something that shouldn’t even scare you, what are you gonna do next, forget who he is entirely? ’ “What- Little Cato?” He questioned.

"Dad!" Little Cato replied fast, disappointed in himself for getting caught. "What are uh- what are you doing?" He spoke nervously, visibly uncomfortable. It was sad really, that he was so uncomfortable around someone who he was supposed to always trust and look up to. He just couldn't get the image out of his mind. The memory of watching his father hurt Gary, and trying to hurt him as well, was imprinted in his brain forever. As he looked up into his dad's eyes, all he could see were the same glowing purple orbs which stared at him every night. It terrified him.

Avocato looked at his son, multiple thoughts running though his mind, degrading names towards himself, “What was I- I was getting food.. Hah can’t remember the last time I actually ate food to be honest, apparently a lot happened.” He sheepishly smiled, it being forced, if you really looked at it you could tell. “What were you doing? Out here.. In front of the door... running away from it..?” He questioned, eyebrow raising.

Little Cato didn't smile back. He was too nervous to even try. "I er- uhh..." he looked back and forth from his dad and the door. "I was just uhm.. about to get food as well! Yeah, I uh- ahah- didn't eat much today," he shrugged, giving his father an obviously fake smile. "And uh- yeah.. a lot- a lot of stuff happened. Uh while you were gone I mean." He looked up to his dad, squinting "And when you were here.. ahah.." he scratched his arm nervously, wanting nothing more than to escape this uncomfortable conversation.

He looked down, sad, devastated, any word only those lines could probably describe how Avocato appeared at the moment. “Yeah.. I wouldn’t really know. Ill uhm.” He stopped, looking up, away from his son, away from him, abandoning him, again, and again. He scratched his hand, moving out of the way, “I’ll um, let you get your food. Bye kid..” He said, the anguish lacing his voice. He walked off, head down, heading back to Gary’s room.

Little Cato couldn't help but feel completely abandoned. He knew it was his fault, but he found himself wishing his dad could've stayed. He wished he never died in the first place. Maybe then none of this would be happening. His thoughts were cut short once realizing Sheryl had still been standing in the kitchen, looking down at him. "Oh- I uh.. hey." He gave a small, quick, uncomfortable wave, almost immediately looking away afterwards.

“Sooo... What was that ‘bout?” Sheryl asked, arms leaning against the countertop. Not entirely understanding the situation, why they weren’t talking comfortably. Even so she stood there, watching. Then asking. “Ya good? Looks like you're sweatin’ a river.” She stared directly at him.

"Oh I uhh.." he wondered for a moment if Sheryl even realized Avocato had previously been possessed by invictus, or maybe she just didn't care. "Y'know... family drama. Heh.." he hadn't really been hungry, so food was definitely out of the question. Instead he just stood there, awkwardly talking to his dad's mother.

“Yeah cool, I got that too, how’s yours though? Not doing to hot im guessin’.” She stated, ‘Kid’s just gettin sweatier by the second, could fill a planet, holy shit.’ She thought, eyebrow raising, she looked up over at the door then down back at Little Cato. 

"Oh uhh.. hah, yknow-" he decided to sit down on the counter opposite Sheryl, attempting to make this whole thing less uncomfortable for him. "My dad got possessed and tried to kill me and Gary. Normal stuff." He shrugged, clearly meaning to be sarcastic, despite not sounding it. "I don't really know what to do.." he sighed, looking up at the woman who was supposedly his grandmother. "It's hard..." he tried his best not to get emotional in front of her, and thought he did a pretty good job.

Sheryl looked down at him, in front of her. “Yeah.. It can uhmm.. be hard ya know kid? Shit hit the fan and you were right there to see it. It will.. It'll get better, little man. Ya’ know, that was.. that was the calm before the storm and you experienced the storm. It’ll clear up from now on, yeah kid?” She spoke, slowly, choosing her words semi-carefully, trying not to trigger any rough emotions for her own sake.

Little Cato smiled, not uncomfortably for the first time this night. He really appreciated the fact Sheryl was trying her best, and he thought Gary would too if he were here. "Thanks...means a lot." He hopped off of the counter, wiping his shirt down after doing so. Catching sheryl completely off guard, the small ventrexian quickly grabbed hard onto her waist, hugging her tightly. After pulling away, he ran towards the door, stopping abruptly to give the woman a large heartfelt smile, and with that he was off.

.

Gary hesitatingly opened his eyes, groaning as he tried to blink the tired away. He wished he could go back to sleep, but the stress of not knowing what was going on outside this room was too much for him to handle. Although having Avocato pressed against him made it a lot easier, he still couldn't resist the temptation to leave. After a bit of squirming and pulling, he had successfully gotten himself free without waking up his best friend. He slipped on his jacket and boots, then took off to the door. Before leaving, he stared at Avocato sleeping. He thought it might be weird to look for this long, but this is the most peaceful he had ever seen him. He smiled to himself, feeling lucky to have someone as great as Avocato in his life. Once he left the room, he noticed the absence of his crew, which was unexpected nonetheless. He couldn't even hear the sound of Kvns painful voice. "Huh..." he sighed, walking slowly around the Crimson light in an attempt to find someone. He looked for about 10 minutes before he started to get paranoid. The feeling of being alone was the one thing he couldn't handle. Around this time, he was feeling so stressed he felt the need to go back to his room. Once he was there he closed the door behind him, walking over to where Avocato laid. He shook him softly, whispering his name repeatedly. "Avocato?.. you awake?" He looked back and forth from Avocato and the door, feeling as if he was being watched.

Being shook awake wasn’t particularly the best way to wake up, but it was better knowing he came out of an awful nightmare. He had shot Gary and threatened his son. It was the most horrifying thing, the look on their faces, hurting Gary, his son. Appreciating the rude awakening he grumbled, throwing his arm over his face as he slowly sat up, his back was in pain. “Mmmm.. What’s happening?” He mumbled, setting his arm down to turn to Gary.

Gary gasped, dramatically throwing his hands towards the door. "No one is here! I don’t know what the freak is going on!!" He said in a whisper tone, despite being really loud. "Where'd everyone go Avocato??? Wh-eee-re??" He shook the ventrexian as he spoke, making this all more dramatic than it needs to be.

“MmmmmMm, calm down Gary...” He mumbled, still waking up, eyes lidded, he looked up at Gary, “I don’t know where they are. Would you wanna go look for them?” He questioned, blinking a few times before sliding his legs off the bed. He looked up and smiled, hoping it'd get him to agree so he could go upon his suspicions of where they could be.

"Yeah?.. hell yeah! Let's go find em!" Gary sprung up, holding his hand out for Avocato and helping him on his feet. He ran out the room in a hurry, and was nowhere to be found once Avocato followed.

Avocato sighed, l leaving the room to find an empty hallway, “Garyy!!!” He shouted, hoping to get him back from wherever he ran off too as he walked down the hallway, he listened for voice, for Kvn’s annoying frequency changes. Nothing, he decided to call for Gary again, getting kind of paranoid himself now. “Garryyy!!”

Gary was silent until a sudden scream escaped his mouth, and was then shushed by a paw pressed to his lips. "Shhhhhh!" Little Cato angrily pouted at his dad, then nodded towards the inside of the room the whole Team Squad sat in. "Wh-.." Gary tilted his head to take a look inside, seeing members of his crew sitting in folding chairs. "What the crap is this?" He threw his arms out dramatically, waiting for someone to answer. "Is my dad coming?" Little Cato asked, completely ignoring Gary's question. "I-wh- Avocato? Yeah, why?" Little Cato nodded at this, sitting down in his own chair. They stayed silent, waiting for Avocato to enter the room. Gary stood there, utterly confused.

Avocato wandered around some more, looking through rooms, unable to find anyone, he went to the kitchen area to grab some food, utensils in tow. After sitting down he dug into the food in front of him. After a few minutes of eating and putting the dishes up he finally asked, “Ava, where is everyone..?”

After almost 10 minutes of waiting for Avocato, Kvn went out of the room, and screamed, “Avo—catooo!!!!!” frequencies changing rapidly, and a bit too loud. Not a bit, way more than needed, but that’s what he did best. After the ear raping screech, he went back in the room, spinning around Gary, eye twitching, “How wa—s thaaattt G-aa-ry??? Bessststtstt friee—nd!” He beamed, hugging him.

Gary quickly grabbed Kvn, one hand on each side of him, and threw him hard onto the floor. "How about freaking no Kvn!?" He kicked him hard before crossing his arms and finding his place to sit in an empty folding chair. "Wh-what is this anyway?" His voice immediately became softer once speaking to the rest of his friends.

Avocato heard the deafening scream from Kvn and quickly ran to where it came from, running and running, he felt like his life depended on this moment, ‘What’s happening? Is Gary okay? There’s nothing bad right? Just Kvn being Kvn? Right..?’ He thought, appearing at the entrance of the room, out of breath, panting, only to see everyone in folding chairs.

"An intervention!" Fox finally answered, once Avocato entered the room. Gary blinked confusedly. "Wh- an intervention- what? Why?" He placed both hands on each arm of the chair he sat in, lifting himself a bit as if he were about to run. "An intervention for what??" He repeated, looking around the room. Little Cato pushed his dad back into his seat, grabbing his other dad's hand and seating him as well. "Oh you know. Just the basics." He answered as he sat back down in his own chair. "You two have been acting like total Lorenzo’s lately." Tribore laughed at his own joke, which no one else understood. "You see it's funny cause- aw nevermind." He pouted, looking away from everyone. Gary still seemed confused, glancing at Avocato for any sign that maybe he knew what they were referring to.

Avocato looked over, shaking his head, a pout lacing his face, he was upset, he thought someone was dying, Little Cato was hurt, Gary was hurt, he thought they were hurt but this? Something that seemed so urgent, just to wind up being this. He grumbled as Mooncake flew up nudging his and Gary’s faces, “Pok... Chookity choo, pak.” ‘You.. Guys have been, off.’ he blurted, putting everything on the right track. Ash nodded, pushing some of her hot pink hair behind her ear, “Yeah, you guys have been acting weird lately. And we’re all really worried about you!” She spoke, looking between the two.

Gary, still confused as hell, nodded his head as if he understood what they meant. "Hmm. Yeah.. mkay." He pressed his robotic arm to the his temple, rubbing it with irritation. "And.. yknow I'm just putting this out here- there are literal TITANS who could attack us at any moment.. ‘kay- and yet you guys choose to do-" he threw his hands out to empathize " This ? I- how is this important right now?" Angry and annoyed, he got up from his seat, pacing in circles around the room. "Not to mention, the literal heart attack you gave me by not- I dunno, maybe even mentioning to me or Avocato that we were gonna do this?" Little Cato looked at Quinn, seeming a bit upset. "How is any of this necessary?" Gary stomped his boot to the ground, causing a loud thud, less for dramatic effect and more because he was genuinely pissed.

Avocato sat there, staring at the ground, listening to Gary, to the noises around him. ‘Titans very well could attack right now. Yet everyone decided to do something so meaningless? I’m fine, fine, okay, I haven't been acting off, just more tired than usual but that’s all.’ He thought as others raced in the background. Anger was festering, boiling up until it was ready to reach the surface. Getting closer to the climax, exploding. Ash looked around at the others, wanting them to say something, she looked over to Gary who stomped on the ground. “Because- You guys haven’t been acting like yourselves!” That was it, the breaking point. Avocato forced himself up, pushing the chair back a fair amount unintentionally adding dramatic effect, “What are you even talking about! I’ve been acting perfectly fine . Other than the very apparent fact none of you even thought about how we felt about this?! Scaring us half to death . For fucks sake, I thought someone was dying ! This isn’t. It’s not the time for something so.. so pointless!” He shouted, body stiff with so much anger and confusion. He didn’t appreciate them thinking he didn’t even know how he was acting himself.

Little Cato jumped out of his chair, standing in front of his two dads. "We just wanted to help you!" He clenched his fists, looking up at them, his face red from anger. "You’re being dicks !" he emphasized the way he said 'dicks', mostly to show he wasn't afraid of getting in trouble for saying it.

Avocato looked towards Gary, contemplating whether he should say what he wants, not wanting to make him upset, he looked up, down to the floor, his feet, grounding himself. Cold heat. “So what. So what if I’m being a dick about this, huh guys, I don’t even know what fucking happened! Last thing i know, Im being woken up by fucking strangers, and whipped until i remember? Doesn’t that sound at least a little fucked up, doesn’t it guys?!” He said, voice getting loud each sentence. “Then boom , I’m trapped, alone! Everyone, everything is gone and all I know for ages, for fucking ages is an excruciating pain, and that’s it. And when I finally get out of it, nobody tells me what the fuck is going on!” He shouted again. He was shaking now, the pain coming back to him, thoughts rushing.

Gary stood there, shocked at Avocatos outburst. He had never seen him that angry before. Yeah, he knew he had just gotten just as angry, but It was so weird to see Avocato like that. Almost as if it had been directed towards him. He recited the words in his head, trying to make sense of it all as the rest of his crew sat in front of him, some angry, others confused or upset. This was all his fault. Everything was his fault. He should've just told Avocato about what happened. Why didn't he? He shook his head slowly, turning around to exit the room without a single word. All was silent until the sound of Gary's door closing echoed throughout the crimson light. Little Cato wiped tears from his eyes, giving an angered glare to his dad before running out of the room himself. "....fuck.." Quinn rubbed her face anxiously. "I'm sorry.." it was meant for Avocato, but wasn't quite loud enough for him to hear. Quinn knew they were never very fond of eachother, but she really was sorry at the moment wishing she had never done this in the first place.

Avocato stood there, realizing what just happened, sinking in, slowly, realization hit. He rushed out of the enclosing space, rushing through the halls, into a smaller closet, does it make sense.. No, but it's warm. “You... I... My son hates me- he he- Gary- he hates me- he doesn’t, I didn’t mean it, I didn’t, don’t, why did.. Gary hates you, he hates you- everyone hates you. You don’t- you don’t deserve what they gave you, anything anyone’s given you Avocato. You just abandon everyone, you abandoned your son, he likes Gary more than you- Hell- he knows him better than you, and now- Gary’s upset- you did that. It’s your fault he’s upset- I didn’t mean it Gary- I’m I- sorry- he..” He spoke to nobody but himself, himself alone. 

Ash looked over to Quinn, Tribore, Fox, and Mooncake, she was stunned that even happened. It was.. intense to say the least. She wandered over to Quinn, Mooncake nudging the older one's face, “That was.. wow. heh..” She tried to lightly joke.

Little Cato continued wiping tears from his eyes, feeling so many different emotions flow through his body at once. He climbed up into a vent above a high shelf, crawling through it to find a better place to sit. Once he found a semi-comfortable spot, he curled himself up in a ball, sobbing beneath his crossed arms. He had never fought with either one of his dads like that before... It hurt. After a while of crying it himself, he heard a sound in the distance. "H-.. hello?" He sniffled, looking around for what could have caused the mysterious noise. "Who's there?" He continued, crawling a bit forward to look more. Right when he last expected it, a hand touched him from behind. "Agh-" he scratched the figure in what seemed to be its face, causing it to fall backwards, groaning in pain. "Wh- c... clarence???" Little Cato was extremely shocked, previously thinking he'd never see this ugly road again in his life.  "What the hell are-" He was quickly shushed by the man in question. "Ah-sh-shsh-shhh!" Clarence angrily pressed his hand to the small ventrexians mouth, listening carefully to make sure no one had heard him. "What the actual hell boy?" He was clearly irritated by his presence. "Me??? what are you doing in our ship???" Little cato forcefully threw Clarences hand off of his mouth, feeling disgusted. "Ah- yooouur ship? Actually- this ship still belongs to me !" Clarence shot back, pointing at himself to emphasize. "You’re the ones who shouldn't be here!" Little cato squinted at this, shaking his head slowly. "Then why are you hiding in vents?!" Clarence stayed silent, staring at the boy. “I... er- uhh....AHH-'' He yelled out before crawling away as fast as he could. Unfortunately for him, little cato is alot faster, and caught him easily. 

".. Wh-..." Gary lifted his head up from his knees, looking up to the air vents above him. "What the hell..." he decided to pick himself up from the floor, wiping his face with his sleeve before exiting his room. Right as he did so, his son along with someone he hoped he'd never see again, both fell out of the vents, hitting the hard ground with a thud. "...ow." Little Cato groaned.

"What the hell??" Quinn blurted out after entering the room in a hurry, seeing what she could only imagine was some kind of mutated toad. "The fuck is that?" She looked disgusted while she spoke, taking a step backwards. 

"That-" Gary spoke up, crossing his arms as he walked towards the rotten con artist. "-would be Clarence." He squinted down at him, looking angrier than he had earlier. 

"I- er... I can explain!!" Clarence picked himself up, putting his hands up in protest to being hurt. "Then explain." Gary said deadpan, which was honestly scary coming from him. "I uh... crap. Well I didn't think that far ahead.” Clarence replied, nervously chuckling at the end. "Mkay. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't toss you off this ship right now." Gary took another step closer, earning a Yelp from Clarence. "Your heart is too big for that, primate. Not a chance in hell you'd do something that drastic," he snickered, gaining sudden confidence. Gary didn't reply, rather just turned around and headed back to his room. He couldn't deal with this right now, and in all honesty didn't give a single shit anyway. Little cato watched his dad as he left, confused as to why he didn't do anything. "Alright Clarence." Quinn said, dragging on the way she said his name. "Why the hell are you here?" She asked, crossing her arms. "This is my ship! And I er-" he immediately shut himself up as he saw Sheryl standing in the doorway, observing the whole situation. "Oh my..." he said, adjusting his goggles. "Oh boy. This is getting intense!" Tribore said, jumping up and down with excitement.

Little Cato groaned, leaping to go follow his dad. 

Quinn dealt with the Clarence situation along with Sheryl and Fox. The three of them threw Clarence in the holding cell, leaving Kvn there to entertain him. He screamed in protest as they walked away from the two, which only made the whole situation funnier for them. Little Cato didn't care however, and was much more concerned for his dads, who he desperately needed to apologize to. 

3 knocks on Gary's door. "Dad..." his son said softly, not exactly expecting an answer. "Hmm?" Gary did answer however, which surprised Little Cato, who took that as a sign to open the door and make his way inside. "Dad I'm.. I'm so sorry..." just saying this made the small boy tear up, his words cracking as he spoke. "I never wanted to fight.." he wiped his face with his paw. "I just wanted you and my dad to be okay...I- I was worried.." he was whimpering now, absolutely heartbroken to be having to have this conversation with Gary.

"It's okay buddy.." Gary lifted himself up, crouching on his knees to level himself with his son. "I was just...upset.." he looked off to the distance at the end of the sentence, shrugging as he spoke. "But I'm fine now. I promise." He wiped little Catos tears away with his thumb. "I could never really be mad at you, okay?" He chuckled lightly, beginning to get teary eyed himself. "You're my little spider cat!... I love you." At this, everything in Little Catos body telling him not to start sobbing, was completely gone. Tears ran down his cheeks like waterfalls, loud sobs emerging from the boy. No one had ever told him they loved him. Not even Avocato. He hugged Gary tighter than he ever had before, crying hard into his shoulder. Gary smiled widely, crying while he laughed, holding onto his son who continued to sob into his jacket. "I..love you too dad." He finally said after calming down a bit. The two of them sat there for a while, enjoying each others embrace, before Gary pulled away.

"Let's go find your dad." He wiped more tears away from his son's face, smiling down at him after picking himself up from the floor. "Yeah. Heh." Little Cato replied, grabbing onto his dad's hand and walking out with him. They asked Ava where Avocato had ran off to, and when she answered, the two of them left in that direction. "Wait" Little Cato said before Gary went for the closet handle. "You two should be alone first...." he continued. "Mm..." Gary hummed, looking at the door. "Just wait in our room small fry. I'll be there soon ‘kay?" He ran his robotic hand through the ventrexians hair, smiling down at him. "Don't sweat it Thunder Bandit. Take your time." He smiled back, before running off in the distance. Gary smirked to himself, wondering how he possibly deserved such an amazing kid. He then turned back to the door, taking a deep breath before opening it slowly. "Avocato?..." he said quietly. 

Little Cato sat on Gary's bed, fiddling with his paws as he nervously thought of what was going to happen. He wondered if Avocato was mad at him... he expected to get yelled at for what he did. All he wanted right now was to sit down with his family and cuddle up in blankets, cozy and warm, watching a nice movie. Maybe one of Gary's earth movies he talks about all of the time, like Diehard or something..  anything with the people he loves. He sighed to himself, falling backwards on the bed, facing the ceiling. He smiled, suddenly remembering what Gary had told him. That he loved him. His eyes lit up, beaming with happiness. Until it turned back into a frown. He wished he could hear it from both of his dads...

Mooncake zipped around the ship in search of Little Cato who had gone off, he rushed into Gary’s room, finding Little Cato sitting on the bed. Slowing his movements down he went to the bed, spinning softly around the ventrexian before nudging his cheek softly. “Chookity,” he smiled.

Avocato sat in the corner, continuing to shake, muttering to himself, holding his arms in a protective stance, back hard against the wall. When he heard the door open and his name called, slowly, he looked up. Eyes wide, pain scattering his face. “Gary?..” he said, trying to realize that yes, Gary was in fact there and probably heard all his self-loathing. Avocato closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, opening them once more to soak in that Gary was looking at him. ‘You hurt him, yet he’s still here, you don’t deserve him Avocato. You don’t.’ “I’m sorry..” he spoke as quiet as possible.

Gary sighed, closing the door behind him after entering. There wasn't a light, but Gary wondered if Avocato could still see his face, since cats can see in the dark. He had never asked him though, and assuming he did everything cats did usually got on his nerves. "Avocato.. Are you.. okay?" He asked, ignoring the ventrexians whisper of an apology. Gary lifted his right hand, scattering around to find Avocato in the dark. It was hard, not being able to see anything, but he located him, sitting down and placing a hand on each of his shoulders. "Does this room have a light?" He thought out loud, before heading back on track. "What happened in there... don't worry about that okay?" He scratched the back of his neck nervously, looking Avocato in the eyes. It was the only thing he could see in here, bright and yellow. "I already talked to our-" he stopped himself, thinking for a moment. He'd never even had a proper talk with Avocato about adopting his son. He meant to talk to him about it many times, but always got too anxious, and eventually just stopped trying. He felt bad about it, but Avocato clearly knew, hearing his son address him my dad must've got him to clue in, and he never seemed to mind. "-Little Cato.." Gary continued. "I talked to Little Cato. He's sorry about what he did.. is that what's wrong?" Gary spoke softly, waiting for his friend to respond.

Avocato sighed, putting his head down, shaking it. “No..no.” He muttered quietly again, going to put his hands at the sides of Gary’s face to cup his cheeks, just before stopping the action, opting to put his hands back in his lap. Truthfully, he wasn’t just worrying about what happened during the start of the so called intervention, yes he is mad at himself for making his son upset. For not being able to even talk to his son comfortably. “Gary.. I- hurt you.. didn’t I?..” he asked softly, looking away from the blonde, unwanting of making eye contact if the question was true. He never wants to hurt Gary, he’s never wanted to put him in harm's way, but he knows he has. The gut feeling telling him he’s hurt the people he loves, it's constantly twisting inside of him. He absolutely hated the feeling of not knowing what he did. “I.. I’m so sorry Gary.” he gasped. Avocato sighed, he wanted to be able to be with Gary without feeling like he doesn’t deserve to be around him, someone so warm, someone so deserving of love, of happiness.  He truly just wanted Gary and Little Cato to be happy. ‘Little cato doesn’t even like being around me, I barely know my own son, he’d be better off with Gary.. They have such a good relationship. ‘M happy he can have a better life..’

It was still too dark for Gary to see the pained look on Avocato's face, but he could definitely hear it. He knew exactly what he was talking about, but couldn't make up his mind on whether he should tell him the truth or not. Yes, Avocato had hurt him and Little Cato, but it's not like he meant to. He was possessed after all, and none of it was his fault. "What do you mean?..." was all Gary could think to say, despite knowing very well what he meant. It's not like he could just tell Avocato right then and there that he had shot him in the chest twice while being possessed by invictus. He figured that'd only make things worse, for obvious reasons. Weaseling himself out of this conversation was the only good option he could think of.

Avocato closed his eyes, “I’m sure, I.. I hurt you Gary. I don’t know if I really did but I can't stop feeling as though I really.. just put you in awful pain. I didn’t- I don’t want to ever do something like that! It’s not- I don’t.. I don’t want to hurt you.” He spoke quickly, slowing at points. “I don’t know why you still want to be around me.” he whispered under his breath, it slipped, he hoped that Gary couldn’t hear it. Avocato tried to push himself further back into the wall, he couldn’t, already squished as far back as he could possibly be.

Gary found himself wishing they could've done this somewhere else, his eyes weren't adjusting to the dark and it was starting to make him feel uneasy. "Avocato... listen man." He patted his shoulder in a friendly way. "Of course I want to be around you. You're my bro!" It was annoying sometimes, how oblivious and dense Gary could be.

Avocato grunted, wishing Gary wasn’t so clueless sometimes, but that's a reason why he’s so likable. He couldn’t reach behind Gary to open the door without putting them in a compromising position, so he didn’t move. “Gary... the door. Open it, please..” he muttered, shrinking into himself.

Gary frowned at Avocato, hoping he could see in the dark. "How bout' freaking no." He chuckled at the end, a mixture of trying to sound angry yet friendly at the same time. "If you want to leave, then why don't you just go ahead and open up that door yourself hm." He wasn't really angry, so trying to sound like it only ended up being more friendly than he intended. "Go on.. open the door." He said in a whisper voice, not exactly whispering in the slightest, like usual. He leaned in closer, smirking at the ventrexian, who he hoped could see it clearly in this dark atmosphere.

Avocato’s eyes widened, as pink slowly started tinting his face. Gary’s smirking face was the only thing Avocato could see. He was so close. Avocato quickly turned into a quiet mess, blushing almost furiously. “... okay...” he whispered. Avocato scooted forward as he was as far away from the door as he possibly could be before that moment, leaning up he lightly pushed Gary down. He patted his hand around the door until he could push open the door. Once open, light flooded in the room as he quickly took his place back in the corner, off of Gary.

Gary had almost immediately forgotten the point of all of this, not moving even after the door had been opened. Now he could see Avocato clearly, and was taking advantage of that. "So that's it? You're not- y'know, gonna do anything else? You're just gonna leave?" He didn't know himself what he was implying, but was trying to ask if Avocato had more to say. "You're not leaving are you?" He asked only a second after his last question, not even giving Avocato time to answer. "Don't just leave me here man!" He meant to say it alot louder, but it had come out as a whisper. One that was actually quiet for once.

Avocato shook his head, “I’m not leaving you, man. I wouldn’t leave you.” he smiled at Gary, “I don’t think I have anything else to say, yaknow.. Unless you want to say something. I'll respond to that.” He stated, head down. “Do you.. have anything you wanna say.. get of your chest?” He chuckled at himself, for asking that, ‘He wouldn’t wanna talk to you about it even if he did have something he wanted to say.’

Gary sighed, looking down the empty hallway while sitting on the floor. "You should talk to Little Cato man... you two are so.. distant." He said this quietly, he had just know clued in to the fact Ava could definitely hear all of this, and wanted to keep some stuff personal incase she decided to tell anyone this. "We should all do something together! Like a family!" Right as he said this, he felt worse than he had all day, feeling as if he had just said something so horrible that Avocato could punch him right here and now. It's not like Avocato ever invited him into his family, he just kind of squeezed in, without his consent whatsoever. "I mean uh- er A- not a family- like a, uhm. Y'know-  crew. Friends! Amigos. A few bros chillin' it out. Ahhahh." He nervously chuckled, feeling like throwing up.

Avocato’s eyes hardened, thinking about how his son doesn’t trust him, care about him. He doesn’t want to be around Avocato, that’s truly what he believed, yet it’s not what he wanted to believe, it was easier if he was distant from everyone. Gary hadn’t been a part of the ‘family’ until recently, even if he had been adopted into it by taking his son out of his hands. Gary was more appreciated than himself by Little Cato, he could tell. Avocato wanted to get along with Little Cato but he worried it would ruin the perfectly good family dynamic his adopted father had given him. His son had a different family now. “family....” he hissed unconsciously. It pained him, but he would have to agree for Little Cato, so he could be happy. “Family.. works. Let’s do something all together.” he repeated back.

Little Cato sighed, falling backwards onto his dad's bed. "Yknow..." He thought out loud, catching Mooncakes attention. "I hate the lord commander more than anything in the entire universe." he closed his eyes, petting the top of Mooncakes head. "But if he never existed, my dads would've never met... isn't that weird?" He chuckled, opening his eyes and looking to the planet destroyer for a response, in which his little green friend giggled. "I just wish things could be easier right now.. y'know?" He shut his eyes again, feeling sleepy. He laid there for a bit, cuddled up with mooncake, until a knock came on the bedroom door, shocking the both of them. 

"Hey bud." Gary greeted once welcoming himself inside the room, followed by Avocato. "Come on! We got something cool to show you!" 

At this, the small ventrexian rubbed tired out of his eyes, hopping off of Gary's bed and running outside the bedroom.  Once making it to the lounging room, he was greeted by a large pillow fort. Fox and Ash seemed to have just finished off some last touches.

Ash had just finished working on the pillow fort with her brother Fox, it was pretty large scale, fancy if you’re being honest. Fanciest pillow fort the small girl had ever seen, it's enough to fit all of Team Squad making it perfect. She looked over her shoulder finding Little cato running into the room with Gary, Avocato, and Mooncake in tow. Excited, she ran over to him, grabbing his hands in hers, “Isn’t it cool?? It’s really big! Doesn’t it look awesome? Fox and I worked super hard on it!” She said, speeding through her words, beaming. Mooncake had flown in, inspecting the pillow fort, seeing it made him happy, they would all finally be able to take a break, to have fun together. Flying up from behind the fort he smiled wide, “Chookity Pok!” Avocato had entered the room, a small smile as he stood near the doorframe. It was so painfully obvious everyone was excited, he was too. He would finally be able to spend time with Little Cato, Gary, and company. He could be better for them all. Kvn was spinning in circles waiting for Gary to arrive, when such happened, he rushed over. “G-aa-ry!! Loook, isnt it greaa—t? So exciting! It's so supperr biggg!! Even I have room to spinnn arou—nd in it!! I can’t wait to share this speciaal moment with y-ou!! My bessttest friendd everrrr!!” He practically shouted, hugging his so called best friends face.

Gary violently pushed Kvn away from his face, pushing past to see little cato make his way inside the fort. "Wow!! This is So Awesome!'' The young ventrexian crawled around the pillow fort, laughing alongside Ash and her brother like the children they were. "Hm. Heheh. Look at em-'' Gary nudged Avocato, nodding his head towards the playful kids, who hadn't looked this happy in a long time. "This was a good idea wasn't it?" He said to himself, knowing the answer. 

Quinn and Tribore had come a bit late, only now noticing the giant pillow fort taking up the entire room. "Wow.. uhm. What's this, Exactly?" She crossed her arms, looking to Gary for an answer. " This , is a pillow fort Quinn. Have you ever seen one? Ahah probably not-'' he patted her shoulder, leaning on her side. "You need to know what the definition of 'fun' is to know anything bout' one of these things." He laughed to himself, getting on his knees to crawl inside with the kids. Quinn couldn't help but grin at the childish fool, allowing herself to go inside the fort with the others. "Oh boy! I haven't seen a pillow fort this fabulous since and Richard went to the annual blanket show on Yarno!" Tribore leaned in towards Avocato, whispering into his ear. "They weren't all that good anyway." He clapped his hands in glee, climbing into the fort with no hesitation. The blankets went so high up, that they were pinned to the ceiling, making it completely dark on the inside, until Ava turned on her monitor, facing it towards a blanket on the wall. "Would you like me to play a movie?" She asked politely, to which Gary responded almost immediately. "Absolutely! I know some classics!" He thought for a moment, snapping his fingers once coming up with something good. "Do you have Robocop?" He smiled, waiting for a response as Ava supposedly searched for the title. "By Ed Neumeier?" She had asked. "Bingo!!" Gary made finger guns directed towards the AI. The Team Squad laughed in glee as they all found a comfortable spot to get settled in. Gary found himself only missing one person for this to be complete.

Hue slowly made his appearance into the room, finding what had appeared to be a luxurious pillow fort, he searched around it before finding an opening to scoot into. Once entering the pillow fort he found everyone seated close together, looking as comfortable as they could possibly be. Hue made his way over to Mooncake who was seated next to Fox, at the end of the line made of people. 

Avocato watched every last one of his friends make his way into the fort, happy as can be. After watching Hue go in he finally had made his decision. He would go in, and so he did. The fort was huge, and palace-like, it was insane. Looking to Gary he found him on the outside of the group, Little Cato and Ash next to him. Everyone was snuggled together.. more or less. It made him uncomfortable, the thought of being so close to the others so he took his spot, next to Gary but not touching. Pink dusted his features as he remembered previous events that happened caused by Gary either being surprisingly seductive, or incredibly clueless.

After the excited chattering died down a bit, everyone got in their place to watch the movie Gary had picked out. Quinn was the only other person here who had already seen it, she chuckled to herself, not surprised in the slightest that this is the kind of movie Gary was into. Little Cato was extremely excited, his eyes glued to the wall where Ava played the movie. He was fascinated by earth stuff, his dad being from there, told him so much about how great it was. Although, the man himself wasn't paying much mind to the movie at all right now. "Hey.. Avocato. Pssssst." Gary cupped his hands around his mouth, whispering in his friend's ear. "Have you ever seen this movie before? It's really good." He made sure he was as close to Avocato as he could be, mostly to not let anyone hear him, and possibly ruin the movie experience for them.

Avocato was watching the movie to the best of his ability with Gary.. Gary Goodspeed.. whispering in his ear, as close as he possibly could be. “Have you seen this movie before? It’s really good.” He was only half listening to Gary which wasn’t hard considering he was right in his ear, however he was quite engrossed by the movie that had started not long ago. Avocato slightly turned his head, coming face to face with Gary, “No. I haven’t. Never heard of it even.” He whispered back, looking Gary directly in the eyes. After the short encounter he whipped his head back to the wall, pushing himself back into the movie. 

The sight of Avocato being more interested in the movie than him, made him frown. He sighed, following Avocato’s actions and watching the movie. He only lasted about 30 seconds before getting tired of it, which made sense considering he'd seen it probably 100 times already, but also because he found himself being way more interested in Avocato right now than some old Earth movie. He scooted closer to his friend, tossing his robotic arm around him and whispering once again. "Actually, the graphics aren't that good. It's pretty old though.. I'm sure you could tell." If anyone hadn't been paying attention to the movie, they would definitely be able to hear Gary's loud whispers, but they surely didn't pay any mind. "Avocato. Avocato. Avocato-" he leaned in closer, tapping the ventrexians shoulder to get his much wanted attention. "Avocato listen to me." He whispered a lot quieter this time, seeming like he actually made an effort to silence himself from everyone else in the fort.

Avocato flinched at Gary throwing his arm over his shoulder, quickly relaxing into it, he calmed. The movie was quite interesting to say the least, it was intense, even if the quality was fairly low, it was nice though, it gave him a nostalgic feeling even if he’s never seen Robocop. After awhile Gary’s insistence of gaining his attention finally worked, even if it was only a bit, Avocato being too into the movie. He whipped his hand up, lightly patting Gary’s chest, “Hmm?.. I’m listenin’” He said, eyes glued to the wall.

"Pay attention to me." Gary whined, taking Avocato's hand from his chest and intertwining their fingers. He nuzzled his face into Avocato's, humming softly. "Avocato man.. pleeeeaase." He was so desperate for attention right now. It has been a hot minute since Gary has been able to let loose and act immaturely, being too focused on finding Quinn and keeping everyone on the crimson light safe. Now they could all finally relax for a bit, and all Gary wanted to do was spend quality time with his cat bro.

Avocato flushed, leaning his head onto Gary’s, eyes still fixated on the movie in front of them, the light shooting onto them. He was more than flustered at the moment, too embarrassed to do anything more than stare at the wall. It had been a long time since he had been able to spend time with Gary without one of them freaking out over one thing or the other. He squeezed his hand out of instinct, forgetting that the blonde had intertwined their fingers. “You have all of my attention Gary..” he whispered.

"Then look at me man." Gary squinted at Avocato, letting go of his hand to wave it in his face, trying desperately to get his eyes off the movie. "Hey, you can watch this another time." He groaned, sitting up straight and crossing his arms. He stayed in that position, trying to look as annoyed as possible, glancing at Avocato every now and then to check if he was even looking. He hadn't noticed that he seemed to care yet.

Avocato gasped at the sudden hand waving in his face, the sudden loss of Gary around him made him feel.. uncomfortable. Like he had lost something important to him, pushing that feeling aside as best he could he tilted his body, seeing Gary’s annoyed position and expressed, he feigned a look of hurt, “Hey hey, I’m looking at you man, my attention, it's all yours.” He smiled, trying to hold the others hand once more, using his other hand to hold his body up as a support pillar.

Gary smiled, taking Avocato's hand back in his. "Great- cuz I  wanna tell you about this crazy dream I had recently!" He was still whispering, trying his best to not disturb the rest of the team squad, who were all clearly enjoying the movie, as cheesy as it might have been. Gary laid down with his head on a pillow, folding his hands on his stomach and beginning to speak. He clearly wanted Avocato to lay with him, but left it unsaid. "-so yeah, there was this Spanish dark lord who wanted to kill me, and so he took my cookie family hostage. I obviously defeated him though ahah." he scratched his head, staring at the ceiling while pondering a thought. "They still died though. It was tragic." He didn't know if Avocato was even listening, but kept going on anyway. Stories after stories about stuff Avocato missed out on, most of it being dramatically exaggerated. "Avocato.. you listening?" Gary suddenly cut himself off, turning to look at his friend. The movie was probably about half way through by now.

Avocato was by now much more enraptured to be listening to Gary speak about his experiences much more than he could’ve ever been in the movie he put on. He was staring down at Gary analysing any and every movement the other made. Avocato started staring at Gary's lips before realising that he actually was staring. “Avocato.. you listening?” Avocato’s eyes widened, flustered, moving his hands in front of his face. “Oh..! Mhm, I’m listening Gary.” He smiled, teeth showing, still being able to keep his voice quiet.

Gary smiled heartily, feeling so cozy. He felt so comfortable laying in this castle of soft blankets and pillows. "Good... mm. I have.. so many stories hah." His eyes were drowsy, his words slow and quiet. All things just making it more obvious that the man was in desperate need of sleep. "Hey Avocato?...Will you have more adventures with me soon?" He shut his eyes while speaking, half smiling.

Avocato laid down next to his best friend, taking his hand back into his own, fingers intertwined, warmth coming over him. “That’s great Gary. I can’t wait to hear them all.” He smiled, rubbing his thumb over the others hand, trying to lull him to sleep. “I would also... definitely go on so many adventures with you.” Avocato held his gaze on Gary’s face, illuminated by the movie.

“Bunches and bunches?" Gary opened his eyes, staring longingly into Avocato's.

Avocato nodded, staring back into his eyes, “.... Bunches and bunches.”

Gary closed his eyes again, wrapping his arm around Avocato and pressing his face into his chest. He didn't say another word before falling asleep, but he drifted off with a large smile on his face, feeling happier than he had in a long time. He was surrounded by all the people he loved more than anything in the universe, so how could he not be this happy? Everything was starting to look good for him, and he was going to savour every second of it. 

.

"Dad?.." Little Cato had said, tapping Avocato's shoulder lightly. By the looks of it, Fox, Tribore, Mooncake and Quinn had already fallen asleep as well. The movie had been over for about 20 minutes now.

Avocato felt light tapping on his shoulder as he was slowly starting to fall asleep, eyes opening harshly to see his son looking at him, too tired to really take in what was happening he just played with Gary’s hair, glancing up at Little Cato every few seconds. “Whu.. Little Cato..? What’s up?” He whispered, trying not to wake up the blonde that was in his hold.

Little Cato let out a shaky breath before leaving in to give his dad a warm tight hug. "I'm.. sorry about earlier dad.. this was fun. Y'know, tonight. I'm glad everyone had a good time.." he whispered, noticing his other dad fast asleep next to them. "I.. love you dad." He gave Avocato a genuine smile, scooting backwards Into his spot next to Ash. He didn't expect to hear Avocato say it back, not that he minded that however, he just knew his dad wasn't too good at showing affection like that. Not to him at least.

Avocato was pushed into a state of shock at the affection he was just given from Little Cato, not expecting it from him as he so obviously was holding a grudge and distaste for Avocato. After hearing him say he loved him his mind blanked, unsure of what to do. “It’s fine.. earlier. I’m happy you’re havin’ fun Little Cato.” He smiled, pushing his face into Gary’s hair, he muttered “I.. you too.. I love you too son.” He said with each word getting more quiet and muffled. Saying that was like a planet was just taken off his shoulders. Never having been able to properly say he loved his son was hell to Avocato, he still hadn’t said it to him, but he said it out loud, with him around, it was a start.

Gary groaned sleepily, wiping the tired out of his eyes before sitting up and blinking a few times to adjust to the dark. Space was weird, he hadn't even remembered the feeling of knowing when is was morning or night. He was still in the pillow fort, noticing after shifting around that he was by all himself. He assumed this means everyone already got up to start their day. He stretched after standing up, letting out a long yaw before stepping outside the fort, suddenly being blinded by the light of the ship. "Agh.. Ava. Could you dim the lights?" Gary groaned, shielding his eyes from the painful light. "Sure thing. You slept awhile you know," Ava responded, sounding rather snarky. "Yeah? Mm. Where is everyone?" He meant to sound more sarcastic in the first half, but was too tired to get worked up at the moment. "Why don't you go take a look for yourself?" The AI answered, scoffing at the end. "Wow. You're awfully rude today now, aren't you?" Gary squinted his eyes as he took his hand away, pointing up at the ceiling. "Just tell me where they are!" "Mmm no. Don't feel like it" was the only response he got, and he took it as a sign to just stop bothering Ava. Gary made his way out the room and into where he assumed someone would be, the kitchen. Sorta a kitchen. "Hey yo- anyone in here?" He took a look around the room, spotting one of his favorite ventrexians sitting at the table alone. "Avocato! Hey man." He basically ran up to the man in question, taking a seat next to him.

Avocato had woken up a while after Quinn, Fox, Ash, and Little Cato left the fort. He woke up with a tuft of hair basically choking him. He slowly removed himself from Gary's light grasp on his body, trying his damned hardest not to wake him up, he really needed the sleep. Assuming everyone else was in their beds he went into the kitchen, grabbing a light meal, it still being too early since waking up for him to really indulge in any amount of food. No one had been in the area, making him assume his earlier assumption was correct. He sat at the table for around an hour, barely doing so much as picking at the food he had gotten, opting to stare off into nothing, think about nothing, just exist, in that moment. In the blink of an eye Gary had appeared next to him, snapping him out of the ‘zone’ he was in. Smiling at him he asked, “What’s up baby?”

Gary smiled at his friend, seeming more energetic and awake now. "Nothing man, I just woke up." His smile quickly turned into a frown. "Why were you uh- sitting here? All alone I mean."

Avocato looked at Gary confused for a moment before realizing what he had asked. His eyes darted across Gary's face, upset he was frowning. Avocato gave a small laugh, “Ah, yeah, I have just been sitting here all alone, I guess.”

Gary scratched the back of his neck, shrugging. "I uh. Well I'm here now! You wanna do anything? Just the two of us?" He smiled again, brighter this time. He reached to grab Avocato's hand, holding onto it as he stared at him for an answer. He didn't think twice when doing things like this, and didn't expect any sort of reaction from it either. He just sat there, smiling heartily at Avocato as he waited for his response.

Avocato flushed, looking over to the side, eyes widening and an awkward smile forming in place of the other. Before, this kind of interaction wouldn’t have any affect on him, but it soon and quickly started making him embarrassed. His eyes darted all over the room, his hand still in Gary’s, not wanting to move it. ‘What should we do? I want to hug him. NO. Watch a movie? Maybe. That’d be fun right? Just the two of us, close together in the fort watching a movie..’ During the thought his face heated up while his erratic movements lessened. “Just the two of us? We could watch a movie.”

Gary smiled even wider, teeth showing. "Yeah! Ah-hah Avocato, I have the perfect thing in mind!" He quickly and energetically got up from his chair, letting go of Avocato's hand and running off, stopping briefly to speak. "I'll go get it ready man! Come in when you're done eating!" And off he went. Once making it back to the pillow fort, he spoke to Ava once again. "Hey ava! Could you turn the monitor on for me?" She didn't respond, other than a sigh followed by the click of the monitor being turned on. Gary scrolled through the movies he had asked Ava to download previously, on a search for something Avocato would enjoy with him. He had never asked him if there were any movies from ventrexia that he would rather watch, but figured he'd just do the choosing for now. "Ahah!" He said with glee, finally finding the movie he wanted to watch. It was a movie titled Sinister, back from 2015. Gary never did well with horror movies, considering the fact he never had anyone to watch with, he could never work up the guts to turn anything on. But now that he was watching it with someone as big and strong as Avocato, he knew he'd be safe. Once turning the movie on and pressing pause, he made his way back out of the fort and into the kitchen. "Hey man! It's ready if you wanna come!" He made a grabby  motion once standing next to him, wanting to take his hand in his.

Avocato was excited to watch the movie to say the least, he didn’t know what genre of movie it was, but he was going to be able to spend time with Gary alone, without anyone else, without things being complicated, it could just be them together. He quickly ate his food, finally finding the motivation to do so. After hearing Gary rush into the room he turned to see him making a grabby motion with his hand. Avocato rushed to put the dishes he had out away, going to take Gary’s hand, a smile littering his face. He smiled a lot when he was with the energetic ball of warmth, not that he minded. They rushed into the fort, getting comfortable right in the middle of the monitor, the perfect spot to watch a movie. After taking a glance at the title screen he saw ‘Sinister’, an interesting title, he thought. “Horror?”

"Yeah! Is that uh- okay?" Gary asked, frowning. "I can change it if you want." He got on his knees, scooting over to the monitor as if Avocato had already answered, and clearly about to change the movie for the purpose of his friend.

“Huh-? Oh no, I don’t mind, it’s something you wanna watch so it’s ok.” He said, leaning to grab Gary’s arm to pull him back. “It looks interesting, cling to me if you get scared.” He lightly chuckled, the words unconsciously slipping from his mouth, although they felt.. right.

"Oh... right. Hah." His hand hung in the air for a short moment, before he scooted back into his place next to Avocato. Once the movie started, he felt brave. Like this was a piece of cake. It took awhile for anything to start happening anyway. Gary looked over at Avocato a few times, trying to observe his reactions. There wasn't anything much, but he seemed intrigued with the movie. They both sat side by side for about 26 minutes, before stuff really started to happen in the movie. This Is when Gary started to lose his bravery, feeling a sudden fear in his stomach as things went on in the movie. He noticed Avocato wasn't even fazed by a lot of these things, and it made him feel pathetic for being scared at all. By this time in the movie, they had found the first tape containing a horrific death of the previous family living in their house. Gary suddenly yelped, in shock as he stared at the screen showing him these horrors, a family being brutally and disgustingly murdered. Even if he knew it was fake, the loud screams and realness of it all made him want to cry all of a sudden. He closed his eyes, trying not to let Avocato see how disturbed he was, despite his breathing definitely being loud enough for him to hear. He couldn't tell if what Avocato said earlier was a joke or not, but once the tape ended and treated them both to a jump scare, he couldn't help grabbing onto Avocato. "Hey uh. Are you uhm." He cleared his throat, trying to seem calm, though he was failing miserably. "You sure you wanna watch this? Its actually not all that good, ahah." He chuckled nervously, trying his very best to seem like everything was fine. In all honesty, Gary Goodspeed was no good actor.

Avocato watched the movie with over-analysing eyes, he observed every movement, every word and mannerism made. It was something he was taught to do when exposed to any kind of bloodshed, he always had to be observing when, all around him, he was always being threatened. He had to know if someone was trying to harm himself or the Lord Commander. His face had been neutral, as that's what he had been obligated to do, not showing even the slightest hint of guilt or any emotion when even destroying planets, billions of lives. After feeling Gary grab hold of his arm he immediately went into defense- his body tensing, ready to attack someone, before realising he wasn’t being attacked. Just held onto by Gary. He observed Gary, noticing extremely obvious and not so obvious differences in how he normally acted, “You sure you wanna watch this? It’s actually not all that good, ahah.” There he thought, ‘The movie is good though.. oh, wait.’ “Baby? You good? It’s ok yaknow. ‘M here.” He whispered calmly into Gary’s ear, pulling his free arm around the male. He rubbed his back, a soothing motion that makes the body alleviate stress and anxiety.

Gary shook his head slowly, swallowing thickly. "Uhh- yeah, no, it's uhm. It's fine." He took a deep breath, glancing back at the movie for a moment, then back at Avocato. "Could we maybe... turn this off actually?" He felt like nothing more than a pathetic weak idiot while saying this. He shouldn't have thought a horror movie was a good idea, of course he'd be too afraid. He's just that disappointing. "Maybe we could... watch something else?" He said the end in a whisper, nervously rubbing his arm with his robotic hand. "If you want, I mean."

Avocato nodded, smiling softly at Gary, using one of his hands to cup the others cheek to make him look at him. With the soft voice he could use, “Of course, I just want you to be comfortable. And if turning it off makes you feel comfortable, that's okay, I'd gladly stop watching it. I was getting kinda nervous watching it anyways, so it works out.” He used his thumb to rub under Gary’s eye, something he used to do with Little Cato when he was younger and scared.

Gary stared into Avocato's eyes as he spoke, barely listening to what he had been saying, being too busying in his own head. His mind was racing, making him feel a bit dizzy and nauseous. "Mhm..." he lifted his hand up to place it on Avocato's, leaning into the touch. He closed his eyes for a moment, taking in a large breath before exhaling, looking Avocato in the eyes again, this time more longingly. He looked almost sad. "I love you.." he whispered, unintentionally. Although he didn't correct himself or regret it, he just continued looking into the bright yellow eyes of his best friend, smiling at him with lidded eyes.

This time, Avocato hadn’t gotten excessively flustered, that not meaning his mind didn’t go to complete mush when the words were said. His chest felt like tiny sparks were going off. Soon crackling into something huge, his heart was almost moments away from failing him. He felt the fluffiness of the words hitting him like a soft blanket. The words he yearned for, finally getting to him. His mind had stopped, opting to bask in everything Gary Goodspeed, his voice when said, his freshwater like eyes, how clear they were, sparkling like a koi pond in the midst of a summer day. How his hair looked so smooth, he wanted to rake his fingers through all day. How soft his lips were, he could only wish to kiss them. Gary’s entire essence taking over his head. Words fell from his mouth like a small stream falling off tiny rocks into another, “I love you too..” He said it with confidence, something he had finally gained just by being so intimate with Gary. He said it with a certain closeness, he was letting Gary into a spot where not even Little Cato could take. Avocato did love Gary, he truly did, so he spoke his words with every bit of his heart, he meant them. 

Gary chuckled under his breath, not taking his eyes off Avocato's, staring at him affectionately. "Yeah?...." he smirked at the ventrexian, taking his free hand and moving it to Avocato's shoulder, pulling himself closer. "You really mean that?" He asked, eyes still lidded.

Avocato’s spine shuttered, unused to Gary acting the way he was. He slid his hand through the side of Gary’s hair, it moving to under his jaw. His eyes were filled with nothing but unconditional love, confirming he really did mean it. “Yeah.. I mean it baby.” He spoke slowly, his eyes held hinted tones of expectation.

Gary smiled even wider, slowly but surely moving closer to Avocato by the seconds. "That's.. " he let out a Huff of air, "-good..." before Avocato even had the chance to respond, that opportunity was taken from him once Gary closed the gap between them, wrapping his arms around the ventrexian, tilting his head slightly. He didn't think before acting again, but to be fair, did he ever? 

Avocato flushed, wide eyed before sinking into the kiss, into Gary, like putty. Gary would be able to mold him in any way he wanted and Avocato would let him. Finally his instinct taking over on emotions rather than planning and logical responses. He took his hand away from Gary’s jaw, mixing it with the blonde hair, the other clinging to his waist, like he could be taken away from him at any moment. They were in final space, he was with Gary, holding him, kissing him. Final space faded away and it was just them.

Gary smiled against Avocato's lips, pulling away just to laugh, which was confusing. His reasoning was unclear, he just kept laughing uncontrollably, still keeping his tight grip on Avocato. "Oh man.." he gave the ventrexian such a genuine sweet smile, happiness seeming to radiate off his face. "Aw god... I can't believe that just happened.." he didn't seem disappointed or upset. He didn't regret it, he was just overly excited to come to realize what had actually just happened. "And you sir, kissed back?" He chuckled, touching Avocato's nose with his own. This was confusing. Gary was confusing. He was still laughing as if it were just a joke, but truthfully he was so happy right now that this was the only way he could possibly express it. "I..." his laughter died down as he looked up to Avocato, leaning his head back a bit to give him space.. he frowned, clearing his throat. "You were.. okay with that right? You're not.. uncomfortable or anything?" Gary was clueless as hell. He meant well, sure, but he definitely was clueless. Even after Avocato kissed back, he wouldn't think in a thousand years that it could ever mean he loved him like that. The way Gary felt was obvious, or least he thought it was. He found Avocato a bit hard to read sometimes, but that was probably due to him being dense on many levels. He wanted to kiss him again, but playing this all off as a joke was a really easy way out of being rejected.

Avocato looked at Gary in a heavy daze, not really being able to hear his laughter and speaking, unsure if him kissing Gary was really just his mind playing tricks on him after finally going insane or losing himself in a void. Hesitantly he pushed his hand out to reach for Gary, like he was some far away being, when really he was right there in all his glory. Slowly he placed each fingertip on Gary's cheek, then his palm, reaching his other to slowly take the blond's hand in his own. Finally realizing the warmth he felt from Gary’s body was real, he was shocked back into reality, quickly going back into kiss him, like a natural thing just coming to him, it mainly being out of embarrassment and not wanting any eyes on him, his best option was to get the others eyes closed by a kiss. Not that he was complaining.

Gary gasped at this sudden action, being caught off guard. Although that didn't stop him from gaining a new kind of confidence, kissing the ventrexian back with a wide smirk on his face. In all honesty, patience wasn't something he had much of. Gary placed his free hand on Avocato's chest, pushing him down to the floor of the fort. He pulled away from him, pulling himself up to hover over top of Avocato, hands on either side of him to keep himself up. His is probably where he'd make some sort of cheesy flirtatious remark, but found himself being too mesmerized by the sight of his friend to even let a single word out. He wanted to say something so bad, he hated not being able to just say something right now, just staring down at him in silence. He took heavy breaths, shaking his head slowly. "Avocato.." that's not what he wanted to say. He looked so upset, yet he wasn't. He decided to wait for the other to say something instead of embarrassing himself any further, yet staying in the same position. 

Avocato felt his back hit the ground, making his eyes widen in shock. The sight of Gary over him was enough to make his brain, yet again go to mush. He was in awe, the monitor shining light onto the side of his face, accentuating his hair and eyes. His hair falling in front of him, eyes looking directly at Avocato, he was yet again in another daze. “Avocato..” His named shook him out of the stupor he was in. He waited for Gary to say something else, soon figuring he wanted him to speak instead. The first thing that popped in his head.. or has been in his head just, left in word form first. “You’re really pretty..” he slurred, a dopey smile accenting his face.

This surprised Gary immensely. Not only because no one had ever said anything like that to him, but also because it was specifically Avocato who said it. "I'm.. what? I uh- I mean no. I mean yeah- no! I.. thanks?" He dragged on the way he said thanks, like he wasn't even sure if it was a question or not. Unable to look Avocato in the eyes, he nervously looked at anything else, switching what thing was every 5 seconds or so. "You too. I mean. You're....pretty." he whispered towards the end, his voice deepening a bit. Sure, Gary was used to flirting with people, but definitely not with people flirting back. He didn't know how to handle it. "I uh... we-'' it was sort of pathetic how he couldn't even speak properly. He wanted Avocato to just do something to put an end to his suffering.