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Quakitus was the clingier of the pair, that much was known to everyone who knew them. Quakitus was the one who would hug Silva’s arm or lean into the dinosaur hybrid when they stood beside one another, neck curved awkwardly to rest against the other’s shoulder.
It was casual, it was Quakitus.
Those roles rarely ever reversed, as well.
Q was the one to initiate hugs, making sure that she always asked beforehand as she had learned her lesson on unprompted hugs when it came to Stormz. Even then, Silva rarely ever denied.
It wasn't that they enjoyed physical contact one bit, it was more that they tolerated it for their teammate, wanting to make him happy and it seemed that he needed physical contact for that.
Now, after Mugm had pulled the IOU on Silva, she felt she needed to stick closer to Q than she ever did before. It wasn't like she was never protective over them or worried about them, but it became more apparent now. Quakitus expressing that fear of Silva leaving made her want to never leave their sight.
Silva had found Quakitus during one of his thought spirals, curled up with his tail wrapped around legs that were brought up to his chest, along with Silva’s dinosaur plushie being squeezed in his arms as he tried to make himself smaller against the pillow. Silva was never the best at the emotional moments, always trying to lighten the mood with a joke or act nonchalant about it hoping to move on from the feelings in the moment, but that wasn't what Quakitus needed right now.
Silva unclasped her chestplate before setting it down quietly against the end of the bed before circling around to kneel down beside it, letting Q see her in his vision. He was close to tears and his mouth seemed to quiver as he scanned over Silva once, then a second time.
“I’m right here.”
The dinosaur hybrid straightened their posture before tilting themselves sideways to lean against the side of the mattress, carefully inching closer to give Quakitus that in, that chance to reach out and know that they're there and not going anywhere.
“I’ll always be right here.”
“Can-”
Her words fell silent in an instant, not being entirely sure how to voice her wants. In fact, she barely even knew what she wanted.
She wanted to curl up into a ball and cry, but she also wanted to be held. She didn't want to talk things out, she just wanted to feel her emotions and not be alone.
“.. Can you come up here?”
Silva nodded, waiting another second before bringing himself up onto his feet just to immediately settle back down, this time with the softness of a mattress below him rather than the hard wooden floor. He waited another moment as he watched his best friend shuffle, unraveling themselves from being curled up whilst also giving him some room to settle down beside them.
The movement was slow, almost robotic as Silva slowly maneuvered himself around before laying beside the other, facing them as he fidgeted for a small moment just to get comfortable where he lay.
“Hey.”
Silva spoke in a lower tone, loud enough for Q and Q alone to hear. The glitchier of the two smiled the slightest, cheeks forcing her eyes closed the tiniest amount.
Quakitus didn't try to get closer to Silva nor force her into a hug, nothing of the sort. There was never a world where he would deny a hug whether asked or not, he had told Silva this countless times - some part of him also just wanted to see if his friend got the memo on ‘the one thing he usually needs when he’s at the bottom of the world’.
“Sooo.. Do you wanna say what's on your mind?”
The words came out a little louder, more like Silva’s usual talking tone than the quieter one he’d taken up a moment ago.
“Just like the good ole Torchblossom days, right?”
The younger giggled quietly at that, the reminder that every day seemed to be a big conversation about feelings and communicating. It was important, but this? Iris? It was more their speed, more comfortable.
“I may be no IamStormz, but I can- like, pretend.”
Silva pulled some sort of face and closed his right eye as if to mimic the red that covered Stormz’s right eye, then talking again in a lighter, more playful tone.
“I’m Stormz and I’m going to aurafarm and be silent and look out into the distance as the moon rises, bwahhh.”
Q’s giggling grew louder, chest rising and falling quickly as her eyes squinted shut in her laughter. The whole time, Silva watched with a fond smile and a patience he didn't realize he had.
Her giggling grew quieter as she took notice of Silva’s expression, looking between his eyes that were so full of care, the flowers she’d tucked into his hair that still remained where she left them, then back to his face.
“Nooo, no no.”
Q smiled, moving their arm to set the dinosaur plushie behind them so it was against the wall, leaving an empty space between themselves and Silva. They really didn't want to have to ask, they didn't want to feel pushy about that physical contact but it was something they thought they'd feel worse without.
The pair had settled into a comfortable silence, Silva noticing the empty space between them both, yet still trying to get himself mentally to want that contact – if not for himself, then at least for Q.
“Do you want to talk it out?”
“.. Not really. It's just-”
The complex hybrid exhaled out a long breath, now realizing just how easy it was to breathe. Funny that all it took was Silva’s presence for her to feel at ease, huh?
“I don't want to be alone, that's it.. and you've heard this a thousand times, you don't need to hear it again. I’m just so scared, Silva.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Quakitus.”
The words could be spoken a thousand times if that's what Q needed to know that Silva wasn't going anywhere that wasn't with her.
“Do you want a hug?”
Quakitus lifted his head to look at Silva, scanning over her face to see if there was any chance she wanted to take that offer back instantly, but her face was calm. She shuffled the tiniest bit closer to the middle of the bed and rolled herself to lie on her back as she lifted up an arm, offering for Quakitus to fit himself into the open spot.
“Yeah. I'd really like that.”
Q shuffled closer and ducked their head under Silva’s arm and settled against his shoulder and collarbone area, wrapping both arms around his middle as their tail wrapped around Silva's scaled one.
Silva brought his arm down to rest around Q, hand settling on the other’s shoulder as he let his teammate revel in the contact.
While Silva wasn't the keenest on hugs, he had to appreciate that Quakitus was always so warm. Every single brush of her hand or arms wrapped around him, she always radiated a literal warmth that made Silva feel so comfortable, like he didn't want to let that go for even a second.
He waited for a moment, sort of freezing in place like a statue as he got used to the warm seeping into his space before moving his hand the tiniest bit down to his arm, thumb rubbing against the fabric of Q’s shirt in what he hoped could be taken as a comforting motion.
Quakitus pressed himself further into Silva, legs resting side by side with Silva’s as he exhaled out a content sigh, his muscles relaxing as all tension died out, now only comfortable against his friend’s side.
“If you want me to move you can say so.”
Her voice was quiet, not exactly a whisper but something close to it. Her eyes fluttering closed, then open again as she tried to fend off how much they stung from near-tears earlier.
“You stay, I’m not going anywhere and I’ve not got anythin’ to do.”
Silva knew that was a lie on his behalf, but he didn't care. Grinding and building farms could always wait, restocking shulkers could wait, but Q couldn't– Q had already waited long enough.
“I’m staying right here, I’ll be right here whatever you need.”
The words had made it into Quakitus’s ears, yet none of them were really making sense in their mind, just a string of words with no correlation as they drifted closer and closer to falling asleep, arms that were once holding onto Silva like he’d vanish now went limp instead.
Silva wasn't going anywhere, Quakitus knew that she could believe that.
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