(Archived) Poth Short Stories and One-Shots

Heat of the Moment - Chapter 4 (End)

Palette took slow, steady breaths as oxygen pumped into the mask covering his face. He was wrapped in a thin blanket with an IV attached to his left hand. A clear gel had been applied to the cracks in his tibia, soothing away the prickling sensation. The monster that had applied the gel earlier was currently busy treating Goth.

His friend sat next to him on the open back of an ambulance with his own blanket, IV, and oxygen mask. His skull was tilted up, sockets closed as the medic pressed their hands gently around the front of his neck.

Their hands emitted a green glow, attempting to heal the damage the smoke and other chemicals from the fire caused. It seemed to be helping since his expression was less pinched and his breathing had lost the uncomfortable wheeze that had been present earlier.

"That should do it. Your throat will still feel a little sore for another day or two until it fully recovers," the monster retracted their hands as they asked, "are you having any difficulty breathing?" Goth let his skull drop, giving a small, silent shake. The monster smiled, stepping back, "Good. I need to go check on another patient, I'll be right back."

As the monster left, silence fell between the two, though Palette would hardly consider it comfortable. Goth clearly wasn't okay. His drooping, hollowed-out sockets held an eye light that was barely there and his gaze was fixed on his lap. He hadn't spoken a word since they'd escaped the building.

For all intents and purposes, Goth looked dead.

A cold pit formed in Palette's non-existent stomach, squirming at the reminder of how close they had come to dying a mere half hour ago.

"Goth...?" Palette called out softly to his companion, his voice muffled by the mask. He took it as a good sign when their eye light shifted toward him, proving they could hear him, "Are you sure you're okay? Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine...," Goth murmured, his voice barely audible through his mask, "it's nothing the medic can fix, at least. Nothing anyone can fix... I ruined everything."

Palette furrowed his sockets, "What? What are you talking about? Nothing's ruined, we're here and we survived."

Goth's face scrunched up with a self-derisive expression once more as he scoffed, "Yeah, we survived... so I could watch our friendship fall apart... all because I didn't keep my big. Mouth. Shut."

The other monster still didn't understand at first, but as he mulled over the meaning of the words alongside the events of the day, something sparked in his mind.

"... Is this about that confession earlier?" Palette hazarded a guess.

Goth's hands clenched in his lap, bunching up his dirty shorts as he hunched in on himself under his blanket, admitting somberly, "You don't feel the same as me... I already knew that. I always knew that, deep down. Every action you made, every word you said... it only spoke of friendship, but I refused to accept it. I don't know what I expected back there, but the way you just... stared at me after my confession, not saying anything. How am I supposed to take that as anything other than rejection?

"And now... whenever we get together, all I'll be able to think about is how I never stood a chance. I won't be able to push away my feelings the way I could before... and I'll end up making things awkward. Then, it'll only be a matter of time until we stop talking... stop seeing each other... and drift away from each other."

The taller skeleton took in Goth's appearance as he fell silent.

Did Goth always look so small?

Palette sighed, deciding to use Goth's words as a springboard for his own confession, "To be honest... I really don't know how I feel about any of that stuff. I don't actually understand what love is or what it means since I've never really had any good role models to show me. That's why I didn't say anything... why I couldn't say anything... when you confessed. Because I don't understand enough to give you an answer."

He averted his gaze to the nearly collapsed building yards away from where they sat, his facial features tightening as he spoke, "But there is something I do understand. When we were trapped in that building, and I thought about you dying... about you being gone and never being able to give you an answer... it hurt.

"I want to give you an answer. And seeing you like this, hearing you say that we won't be together anymore... it makes me sad. It feels wrong... and I don't want that!"

Goth was looking at him now, his sockets still sunken... but Palette was able to barely make out a spark of something in the smaller's dim eye light as he pressed on with a softer voice, "Maybe that's love? I don't know. I can't say I have an answer for you right now, but maybe... you could be the one to show me... to help me understand? I don't know if it'll work out in the end, but I'll at least be able to give you a definite answer. I just... I don't want this to be where it ends. At least, not until I know for sure. So, what do you say?"

Palette opened the right side of his blanket in silent invitation. Eventually, the small skeleton began to scoot over, careful to avoid obstructing the tubes connected to the oxygen tanks and IV bags as he leaned into his companion.

Goth took a slow breath but didn't say a word as he watched the emergency personnel bustle around, though his posture relaxed as Palette wrapped his arm and the blanket around him. 

Palette couldn't help the faint smile that crept onto his face as his companion rested their skull against his shoulder, the light rekindled once more in their left socket.

This is good. This feels right.

***

Well that's the end of the sto-

Oh, what's this? An alternate ending~

Word count: 1,001