Chapter Text
He watched Impulse peer into one of the rooms, it was the same room they’d always taken small portions of food from to split between them.
“They still stocked up back there, Diddle Dop?”
“Yeah, but I don’t see the bread anywhere.” Impulse told him, dipping deeper into the room.
“You sure? Need any help back there?” He offered, taking a step closer to the doorway.
They didn’t turn to him, but still waved off the help. “I got it, Skizz. Just make sure you’re keeping watch.”
He grinned, giving a small salute as his wings ruffled. He tapped his foot on the ground while running a hand through his wings, trying to rid it of the bits of black smoke and redstone from hiding in the engine room. It made his naturally white wings appear a bit more grayed with the little specks of red making them itch.
The same dust and smoke also littered Impulse’s horns and tail. The redstone dust littered them lightly, but the smoke was barely visible, gray in color and just light enough to be seen. He heard the faint sounds of Impulse moving storage boxes around, still searching by the looks.
“You sure you don’t need help back there?” He offered again.
“I think they might be out, I can’t find any.” Impulse said with a sigh. “I’m gonna give it one last look, just to be sure.”
He smiled softly. “Alright.” He said as he looked around absentmindedly.
He felt his feathers puff up, itching to spread and shield him. He frowned, running a gentle hand through them to diminish the strange feeling in the back of his mind.
“ Say, Skizz. Why do your wings always do that?” Impulse asked, walking up to him.
“Do what?” He asked, letting his wings smooth back down again.
“Y’know, puff up like that.” They elaborated.
“Oh! That, that’s normal.” He told them as he set the course for the nearest port, turning to them. “I’m a chrublion, so I’ve basically got the sixth sense of what’s around me. My wings do that when there’s someone watching me that I wasn’t aware of.”
“Like a warning?” Impulse asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, to let me know I’m not alone-
“Hello?”
He flinched harshly, whipping his head in the direction of the voice. He was met face to face with a mirriot, staring at him with wide eyes. He shrank back slightly, gaze flickering to Impulse still searching through the storage.
They moved to approach. “Hel-“
He ran into the storage room, ignoring the shouts from the mirriot as he tackled Impulse, wrapping his wings around them.
“Hey, I found I-“
“ Shhhh !” He cut them off in panic, wings giving a soft glow that let him know they weren’t visible.
Yet he couldn’t help but freeze at the shadow looming in the doorway, the mirriot looking around worriedly.
“Oh, this is bad.” They muttered.
He tapped Impulse’s shoulder, a silent sign to start getting up. They’d done this multiple times over, enough for the practiced movements to be second nature. They moved in sync, silent and mindful of each other’s limbs as they stood.
The soft glow that he could see on both himself and Impulse, along with the gaze of the mirriot in their direction but not at them, reassured him enough to keep them both shielded while moving towards the door.
He looked down at Impulse, who grabbed a small stone from their satchel. They tossed it lightly, testing its weight, before throwing it to the back corner of the room, it landed with a thump . The mirriot’s gaze snapped up, they hesitantly walked closer to investigate.
As soon as they were fully behind and hidden from view of them, he urged Impulse to start moving. He kept quiet, barely daring to breathe as they stepped out of the room, keeping his eyes on the mirriot until they were halfway down the hall.
From there they went down the hall, taking a left, then a right. He let his wings lower as him and Impulse became visible again. He lifted up the cover to the ladder that led down to the engine room, Impulse climbing in after and shutting the cover quietly.
Neither of them dared to speak, Impulse holding his hand and leading him through the engine room. They moved over redstone lines, beneath engines and various machines. They continued moving in the darkness until Impulse stopped.
He barely saw them lift up a flap in the darkness, letting them lead him forward into their small corner in the room. They were sat in a hollow, box shaped machine. It hadn’t been hooked up to anything nor did it seem to have any sort of purpose, and was incredibly outdated by that point parts wise, so they hollowed it out and made it their hideaway.
It had a couple spare blankets they managed to take acting as cushioning. The door that gave access to the inside acted as, well, you guessed it, a door. They always kept a small cloth hung over the top to keep it from closing while they were inside. It may be old, cramped, and a bit dusty, but it was the best they had.
“That was too close.” Impulse breathed.
He nodded. “Yeah…” he agreed.
“Do you think they’ll do something, now that they know we’re here n’ all?” He asked.
“I hope not.” Impulse muttered, looking at him with a soft frown.
He looked up at them, giving a small smile in hopes of being comforting. “Hey, it’ll be alrig-“
A sound interrupted him. He cut himself off, looking around for the source. He found it when he turned to impulse, who , even in the darkness, could be seen blushing lightly in embarrassment. He looked at them in curiosity. Their hand sat in their stomach, that’s what it took for him to realize what happened.
He snickered quietly, patting them on the shoulder. “No need to be embarrassed, Diddle Dop. We’re both a bit hungry today.”
Yeah, just a bit.