Road To Us || Porco Galliard

⤜Chapter Thirty-Two⤛

Marcel did indeed deal with it.

Reluctantly.

After the extreme and relentless bullying from Reiner and his brother.

The camp had been set up, with the additional arrangements to accommodate the newest member of the gang.

No friend group is ever complete without the animal, right?

The fox cub sat watching Reiner cautiously from the safety of your arms. Surprisingly it seemed to like you more than Colt, even though it was him who found him. Reiner was sitting on the rock next to you as the others splashed about in the water.

"So how are you?" He asked you, ignoring the glare of the fluff ball you were holding.

"I really should be asking you that." You chuckled. He smiled and shook his head.

"No seriously, you still haven't spoken about your mental breakdown the other day."

You silently mouthed "oh." Before pursing your lips.

"I don't know Rein. It was weird and just sorta happened." You shrugged as if you were attempting to shake off the thought. "How are you?"

"Changing the subject. But I'm alright." You laughed at his response.

"That's good. Missing Bertie?" You asked him. Reiner shook his head.

"Nah, not really. We've texted a fair bit. It's like a slice of sanity in between dealing with all of you guys." He smiled. You rolled your eyes and nudged him sharply with your shoulder.

"Don't act as if you're better than us. You're just as chaotic." You laughed as he nudged you back, cautious of the fox in your hands.
"What's that thing's name?"

"Uh. Actually I don't know what gender it is." You murmured as Colt and Porco waddled their way over.

"We should name it Marcel Jnr and let Marcel look after it." Porco suggested with a wicked smirk to his brother who was standing back.

"You guys are horrible." Marcel shook his head at you as Reiner splashed him with a kick.

"I don't get how you're scared of it. It's like half the length of your forearm." Colt chuckled, taking the animal from you. He held it up and it licked his nose. You quickly snapped a picture of the scene, unaware of Porco in the background staring at you.

"It's a girl." Reiner declared. Marcel peered at it reluctantly, leaving you to do the same.

"How can you tell?" Marcel questioned with a shudder. Colt rolled his eyes and Porco shook his head.

"Look you idiot."

"Ooh."
.
.
.

"Can we name her Bisky?"

"No that's stupid."

"What about Rouge?"

"No. We're not naming her after Rena Rouge."

"Damn that sucks."

"Yeah."

"Vulpix?"

"I- no. No."

"I mean Vulpix is cute."

"We're not naming it after a Pokémon."

You were all standing around the sleeping creature, debating names.

"Why are we even keeping it? Is it legal?" Marcel asked. You shrugged.

"No idea if it's legal or not." You answered. Porco scoffed at this and you poked your tongue out at him.

"Why don't we just give it to a shelter?" Marcel tried once again.

"Dude. I don't get why you don't like animals. You could accidentally step on her she's so small." Reiner said as he gestured to the fox. Colt nodded.

"Yeah. Do you have some sort of childhood trauma involving animals?" Colt asked jokingly. Marcel froze and looked around uncomfortably making you all burst out in laughter.

"Damn. What happened?" Reiner asked with a questioning smile. Porco narrowed his eyes and looked rather confused for a moment before something clicked and he grinned wickedly.

"Don't tell me..." he trailed off, teasing his brother with a smug look.
Marcel looked distressed.

"No shut up Pock." Marcel stepped back, retreating from his brother who was approaching.

"It was that one time, right?"

"No! Stop!"

"With the dog."

"Porco stop."

Porco turned back to face you, Colt and Reiner, his malicious grin still fixed in place.

"Wanna hear the story?"

"No!" Marcel interjected before any of you had the chance to reply. "No. Okay? It happened when I was a little kid and it was traumatic. That's all you need to know." He sighed. Porco's smile fell and he rolled his eyes.

"You always have to go and ruin the fun." You snickered and lightly hit the back of Porco's head. He turned to you and slapped you back on the top of your gently, leaving his hand there.

The conversation was forgotten when Reiner asked about food. Preparations for lunch were made and ended with everyone holding chicken sandwiches, sitting on rocks with their legs in the water. You and Colt fed the unnamed cub small tidbits of chicken, keeping her happy.

It was a quiet meal, everyone off in their own worlds thinking deeply about something or nothing.  The fox doze off, leaving you to put her in her makeshift crate; a box with a towel in it.

You'd find something better later.

It was about four in the afternoon when Porco suggested exploring a little.

"Like where though?" Colt asked, skimming a stone.

"I don't know. Try and get up the waterfall?" Marcel suggested. You smiled brightly.

"That sounds fun! It's probably deep enough for if we wanted to jump off." Porco nodded at your statement.

"Yeah it's really deep in some parts." You smiled at him before jumping up and dusting yourself off.

"Well come on then!" You grinned, hand out for him to take. He grabbed it and stood up, returning your grin. Marcel got up to follow as did Reiner.

"You guys are absolutely insane." Colt shook his head before reluctantly following you.

You and Porco walked hand in hand through the forestry. Faces red and turned away from each other. Like a couple of highschoolers. He held up branches for you to pass under, letting them go once you were through and allowed them to smack Marcel in the face.

Slapping leaves out of your face and shying away from spider webs you made your way up the steep slope.

You stepped out onto the rocks on top of the waterfall. Porco was in front of you, still holding your hand as he guided you across. The water moved fast down the waterfall and it was loud.  So loud.

You couldn't make out what anyone was saying but Colt looked petrified and Reiner and Marcel were laughing at him. Or screaming.

Porco kept his eyes on you, making sure that you were okay.

"Wanna jump with me?" He whispered into your ear so you could hear. You jumped a little, face flushing crimson from the close proximity before you looked at him with a grin and a nod. You returned it and pulled you along with him as he got in position to jump.

One...Two...Three... he took steps back, hand still tightly gripping yours. He squeezed it and flashed you a smile before sprinting. Your legs pumped to keep up with him and as the two of you neared the edge, you pushed off, falling into the air.

Adrenaline moved through your veins, the wind buffeting against you as you were falling.

You looked to Porco as you fell, only to see that he was looking at you. He pulled you into him just as you hit the cold water.