"Spill." Sub said as he placed a brownie in front of Alex. He quickly took a bite to fix the bruise on his leg. Sub sat down with a comb made of twigs and began twisting at the bottom of one of his dreadlocks.
Denis took a deep breath and sighed. "Don't freak out." Sub seemed unamused by his delay and continued to unravel his hair. He stopped about half way and went to comb it out.
"I went to the house." Sub stopped combing. He looked up at him.
"What?" Sub said seriously. Denis noticed his wings darken. Sub had always been one to worry. Even when they were kids. His wings darkened very easily from his anxiety. He used to make himself cupcakes sprinkled with his magic remedies to make himself less anxious.
"Maybe I shouldn't tell you." Denis mumbled. Sub went back to fiddling with his hair out of anxiety.
"No. Please do." Sub aggressively brushed his hair, making it frizzy.
"I looked–," Denis said hesitantly. He spoke slowly so he could stop quickly if he noticed Sub getting too fidgety."--into one of the windows. They had butterflies pinned by their wings in picture frames."
Sub took a deep breath and began working on the other side of his hair. He just stared off with wide eyes.
"Sub? Are you okay?" Alex asked cautiously.
"No. Not really." Sub replied, almost laughing. He finished untying his dreadlocks and began harshly combing his hair. Alex gently grabbed his hands so he wouldn't rip his hair out. Sub's really curly, long hair drooped in front of his face, but Alex could still see his panicked face. It went past his shoulders went he didn't have it in dreadlocks.
Suddenly, Sub stood up. He went over to the closet. He opened it and grabbed a little tin from a shelf as Elijah looked up at him, still on the floor. He shut the door and slid down it to the floor.
His nervous aggression made him struggle to open the tin but when he did he quickly shoved a normal cookie in his mouth. These ones didn't have the magic healing element like his other pastries. These ones were used for other reasons.
Denis stood up and knelt next to him. "Sub, stop. You're stress eating." Denis tried to grab the tin, but Sub yanked at it.
"Give me back the fucking cookies." Sub demanded. Denis let go and held his hands up. He looked over at Alex. This had gone horribly wrong.
He heard a tap on the closet door. He sighed and helped Sub up and to his room. Alex quickly went over and sat on the bed with his worried friend.
Denis opened the closet door. He looked down at Elijah on the floor. He sighed and picked him up by the back of his shirt collar. He closed the closet and placed Elijah back on the floor to untie him. He waited to take the napkin out of his mouth to savor the peaceful moments.
Elijah slumped down on the floor and crossed his arms. He turned away and pouted like a child. Denis rolled his eyes and stood up.
However, he stopped for a moment. He noticed that Elijah's wings had darkened in color. Denis sighed and picked his sulking friend, slinging him over his shoulder. He walked into Sub's room.
Sub was leaning into Alex, still nibbling at his 'stress sweets' though Alex had managed to get the tin away from him before he got a stomach ache. His eyes were still wide and his breaths were shaky.
Alex was holding onto him while playing with the thick coils of Sub's hair. Denis dropped Elijah onto the bed. Sub quickly took advantage of his friend's small nature and coddled him like a teddy bear. Elijah was hesitant at first to give in but seemed fine with it. He was always kinda manhandled or cuddled due to being the tiny one.
Denis flopped down beside the three, making them all rise slightly from the force of Denis hitting the bed. He stared at the ceiling, going over the events of today.
Alex fell back next to him, since Sub had found interest in the 3 inch tall pixie. Elijah just snuggled into his friend because he knew he wasn't gonna be let free for a while.
Alex looked over at Denis. "My mums are gonna be pissed." Alex smiled. Denis laughed. He looked back at Sub and moved closer to Alex.
"I feel bad." He whispered. "He just got over...his patient and now I've freaked him out more." Alex waved his hand.
"He'll be okay. He just gets worried easily. You know that." Alex turned onto his back again. Denis moved away as he saw Sub leaned back carefully. He curled up around Elijah and held onto him tightly.
Elijah looked over at Denis. "Could you tell my brother that I'll be back in the morning? I don't think Sub's gonna let go anytime soon."
"Shut up," Sub mumbled. Denis sat up.
"I suppose I'm telling your mothers too, Alex?" Denis asked. Alex nodded as Denis left. He first flew up to Alex's house. It was a quick explanation and then he flew to the ground floor.
He spotted Ethan getting a few mice to bed. He noticed Denis walking towards him and perked up.
"Oh, hey Denis! Have you seen where Elijah flew off to? I wanna know if I need to send one of the blue jays out to find him again." Ethan half joked.
"He's at Sub's house right now. He'll be sleeping over actually. He's kinda–" Denis wrapped his arms around himself to reference a hug. "--trapped."
"Ah," Ethan smiled and turned back to the mice. They'd settled down and were huddled in a pile to sleep. "Thanks for telling me. Just make sure he actually comes home in the morning. Good night!" Ethan waved goodbye as he began to walk off to his home.
Denis turned to leave. But something caught his eye. There were about three fairies gathered around in the animal fairy area. They weren't animal fairies though.
"Where is he?" One of them asked. Another shrugged.
"Whatever. We'll just do the race another day." The third fairy said before flying off, their friends following behind them.
Denis felt disappointed. He'd hoped that Elijah had broken it off with the racing friends he had, but that didn't seem to be the case.
He flew back up to Sub's house. He locked the door and blew out the candle. He went into the bedroom to see that the situation was still the same. Elijah was sleepily playing with Sub's hair, wrapping it around his finger as his eyes fought to stay open. He slowly lost that fight as his hand dropped and his head fell back slightly.
Sub looked like he was never going to fall asleep but Alex looked like he dozed off as soon as Denis left.
Denis layed on the other side of the circular bed, rounding himself so he didn't fall off. He looked at Sub sunken in the middle of the bed.
He placed a hand on Sub's head and ruffled his hair. He turned over and grabbed Sub's sleeping cap.
Sub let go of Elijah, waking him from the loss of touch and warmth. Sub sat up and took the cap. Denis helped him shove all his hair inside it.
Denis held Sub's hands. He rubbed the back of his hands with his thumbs. "Relax. Everything's going to be okay. Alright?" Denis said. Sub nodded.
Denis leaned forwards and hugged him. Sub stayed still, taking a second to enjoy the comfort. Elijah sat up from underneath them. He hugged Sub around his torso. Denis let go of Sub.
"Aw. You're cute when you're tired." Denis patted Elijah's head.
"Don't call me cute."
"Nevermind. You're still annoying."
"Racist." Elijah mumbled out of a yawn as Sub latched onto him again.
