Lionhearts ||Skephalo||

18

Sapnap hurtles back under the trees, hissing in dismay.

"It's pouring!" He whines, and Tommy, standing out in the open, gives him an unimpressed sneer.

"Nick, it's been an hour of this! Just say you're a pussy and be done with it, for fuck's sake. Ye aren't even from the Nether but you're whining and moaning over a drizzle!" He marches over and grabs the older boy by his arm, hauling him out into the rain despite his protests.

Despite Tommy being from the Nether and mildly averse to water, he only flinches now and then at the water dribbling down him, while Sapnap, who is supposedly unaffected, is whining the whole way down the hill.
Tommy punches him a little rougher than would be playful,

"You're just a big baby, you're not even hurt by water. You went SWIMMIN'! You just don't like rain."

Sapnap refuses to answer. He knows that, in part at least, his moodiness is from missing Skeppy and Tubbo now that they've been separated long enough for his anger to settle and steep.
He's even begun to consider that perhaps he was...maybe overreacting a bit. In the moment, he felt it was justified, but now he's having little doubts, his emotions thickening into an uncomfortable stew he can't seem to swallow.

The sting of what he saw as betrayal has yet to fade, even as his doubts grow.

And I didn't tell Skeppy Bad is probably a mage. I should've.
He pockets the thought and follows Tommy now, unprotestingly, though not docile.

His dreams last night were empty, just a white expanse of snow, like nothing he's seen in any world. He had floundered around in the powdery depths, only to wake up, gasping, when his head went under.

Tommy glances back at his now silent companion. If he wasn't dragging the black haired boy after him, he would've slipped off to talk with Tubbo, but he admits that traveling as much as they can before they talk is probably wiser. Despite the vacant look in Sapnap's gaze, Tommy is sure he's thinking of something. Pretty intensely, at that.

They come to a stop at a creek, Sapnap now studying the water with interest while Tommy looks around for a quick way across it that doesn't involve jumping it.
He's sure he could make it, don't get it twisted. He just feels like jumping a creek is stupid, especially with mud that might fuck up an otherwise perfect jump.

He walks a bit up and downstream, coming back to find Sapnap sticking his arms in the chilly water, pulling them back with cupped hands.

"Look Tommy!" His tone is full of delight as he tilts his water-filled hands towards the blond, "I caught a fish!!"

Tommy looks at the tiny minnow in Sapnap's hands, studying it curiously.

"So you did," he murmurs, "A bloody tiny one, but a fish."

Sapnap can't help giggle, his moodiness somewhat buried by simple delight as he plunges his hands back into the creek so the minnow can swim away.

"If we head a touch upstream," Tommy says, "There's a narrow part where there isn't mud so we can jump it easier. Come on Fishnap."

Sapnap rolls his eyes at the latest nickname he's acquired, and follows him regardless.
They hop over easily, Sapnap pretending to theatrically stumble, 'narrowly' avoiding falling in. Tommy resists the urge to push him in for real.

Though the separation certainly has affected the group, Sapnap still seems to be stubbornly planted in his belief that it was for the best to split- at least, from Tommy's view.
He can't see the silent doubts that have sprung up over all of this. He can't tell that Sapnap finds himself pining for Skeppy's attention, having grown fond of the hunter despite how recently they had met. Things just came so naturally between them, from plans, to banter, to jokes. They just were...really easy friends.