Do You Blame Yourself?

[Chapter 29] - Pirate Promise

There had to have been something in the air, because anytime someone woke up that day, it felt like trying to revive a corpse. Peso's head felt heavy when he tried to wake up, his eyes being brought to the now folded papers he had slept on.
"Oh, come on..." he muttered, now trying to make it seem like that never happened. From the other side of the table, Pinto was still drawing.
"Pinto," he looked up, "do you happen to know how long I was asleep for?" Peso rubbed his eyes in an attempt to allow the blobs of color to form shapes. Pinto looked over at the clock on the wall, stared at it for a second, then turned to Peso.
"About fifteen minutes." At least it wasn't that long, but fifteen minutes is still fifteen.

He placed his head in his hands, dragging his hands down. "Pinto, I'm sorry. I know it's your last day on the Octopod, but everything is so chaotic right now," Peso mumbled, just loud enough for only the two of them to hear.
"Why is it chaotic?"
"I've been trying to get the place," Peso motioned around the sick bay, "at least a bit more organized, but that's been stressful." He pushed himself off the chair, but before he could even get any higher, he froze.

"Where'd the folders go?" Peso asked, to specifically no one. He spun around a few times, as if he were chasing something. "They were just by the water tank."
"They're in the cabinet closest to the tank." Pinto turned around and pointed towards it. Peso looked down at him before making his way over towards said cabinet.

"Pinto, how did you know they were in the cabinet? They were right by the tank before I fell asleep." Peso whipped his head around.
"I put them there."
"You did?"
He nodded.

"Did I do something wrong?" Pinto walked over towards the cabinet.
"No, you did the right thing actually. I didn't know you knew where they went."

After about another few minutes, Peso turned around. "Pinto, can I confide in you?" he asked.
"What does that mean?"
Peso chuckled quietly before answering, "Confide in means to... tell something to you that I would never tell anyone else." He was still crouching down in front of the cabinet.
"Ohh, all right!" Pinto exclaimed.
"All right listen, I'm so, so proud and happy that you understand other's struggles. You've matured over time, but you haven't lost anything that makes you... well, you." Peso placed his hands on his brother's shoulders, almost falling onto the floor for a second, but he kept his balance. "I want to cherish these moments as long as I can because one day... you know what, I'm not even going to talk about the future. That's later. Let's focus on the now."

It hadn't even been a few seconds until Peso just collapsed to his knees.
"Peso, don't cry..." Pinto said, wrapping his arms around his shoulders.
"I just hate the fact that one day, you're going to grow up and someday I won't see you as often anymore. I don't hate how you're growing, but I hate how you're growing. Understand?" he said. Peso grabbed Pinto by his lower legs, almost like he used to when he was a baby. "To get our minds off that, you want to come with me to replace Kwazii's ice pack?"
"Yeah!"

"So, how did you confess?" Kwazii asked, leaning against the wall.
"Well, I was as truthful as I could be," Tweak answered, smiling.
"If I'm truthful, then I might as well admit that I've been pining for about, what, almost two years?" he wondered, thinking back a bit.
"Two years?" she asked, blinking profusely.
Kwazii glanced up slowly at Tweak, trying not to laugh or even smile the tiniest bit. "About-"
"Two years?!?" she shouted, slaming her hands onto the floor. "Almost two years and you never told me anything? I feel betrayed," Tweak joked.
From around the corner, Peso tapped at the metal walls with his elbow, with his one hand holding the new ice pack and his other hand literally holding Pinto. "Jeez, Peso can carry his brother with only one hand? Kwaz, I think you've got some competition!" Tweak exclaimed.
"Shut it!" he shouted, flapping his hands around frantically, trying to block his burning face.
"Kwazii, if I wanted, I could probably carry you!" Peso laughed. And with that, Kwazii turned around, hiding his face from the rest of them.
"I'm not embarrassed, I just..." He shot Tweak a glance that said, 'get me the hell out of here'.