It's Us Crew Oneshots

The Tarantula, the Frog, and the Flowers [15]

The snow crunched underneath Don's boots as he trekked back to the base, the tall walls of the Scottish-styled house visible in the distance. The young man's breath billowed out in front of him as he hugged himself to keep warm, his gloved hands cupped over one another to protect whatever small, croaking being was held in his palms. He had just been out on another border-check mission for Duni, which took a lot longer than he had expected, and was just now returning as the sun sunk lazily towards the horizon, light cascading across the milky sky and painting strips of stratus clouds a soft yellow. Maybe if he hadn't gotten distracted during his mission, perhaps he could be chilling at the base, curled up in the corner playing video games instead of freezing his face off.

But, eventually and thankfully, the jester reached the black, metal fence of the medium-sized house and pushed through the gates, his sore legs carrying him across the walkway to the door and through the frost-covered garden. Don paused on the porch and glanced over at the bright pansies planted near the foot of the stairs. The flowers were the only plants that were not frozen by the cold weather. Don mustered a small smile before turning back to the front door. Richard was a good gardener.

There was no "welcome back" Don earned when he entered the house, and he frankly didn't care. As Dashlie yelled at Duni in the kitchen, Don turned upstairs and headed to his room, not bothering to take off his winter attire. His amber eyes remained focused on his cupped hands until he entered into his bedroom. Well, it wasn't his bedroom, it was actually a shared bedroom between him and Richard, but Don called it his own since Richard was often away from the house doing who-knows-what and didn't set foot into the room that much. However, today seemed just as an off day for Richard as it was for Don, for Richard was laying on his neat, single bed, staring at his phone screen and not acknowledging Don. The shorter male dragged his snow-covered boots to the side table between his and Richard's beds.

Don finally un-cupped his hands and uncovered the little creature in the palm of his gloves. It was a tiny frog, and Don flashed a small smile at the amphibian before grabbing at the lid of the terrarium that sat atop the side table. The frog croaked as Don carefully dropped the animal into the terrarium, where the young man's pet tarantula glanced at the frog from under a log. Richard finally looked over with a curious glance, lowering his phone down as he asked, "What are you doing?"

Removing his gloves and putting the lid back onto the terrarium, Don shrugged off his heavy jacket and answered, "Just giving Toby a pet." Richard squinted his eyes at the little frog in the enclosed habitat. "Why?"

"A frog? Aren't you afraid your weird spider will eat it?"

Don sat down on his bed as he threw his jacket and gloves to the side, proceeding to struggle in taking his boots off. "No," he said with a shake of his head. "Tarantulas sometimes keep little frogs as pets. The spider protects the frog from predators while the frog eats insects off of the spider's remaining prey, which keep away ants that could harm the spider eggs. Basic mutualistic relationship."

Richard sat up and looked at the terrarium. "But your spider is a dude. Who's to say he won't eat the frog?" Don shrugged at that.

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see," he said, finally kicking off his boots and feeling relief wash over him as he rested his weary feet.

Standing up with sudden interest, Richard watched as the frog hopped across the dirt in the small enclosure. "Where'd you even find that frog? How is it not dead yet?" Don shrugged once again.

"I don't know. I found it at a frozen pond while I was out. I couldn't just leave him." Richard hummed, eyes still watching the terrarium.

"What's his name?"