[PRP] Sunny Side Up (Byakko x Zeffer) [FIN]

[kamileunaire]

Zeffer stopped for a moment as Akko turned to stare, and felt his bloodpusher skip a beat as her scathing look burned him through to the core. He barely managed to hold the little s**t-eating grin on his face, and shrugged once, exhaling slowly as she spun around to continue the short trek out of the caverns. He almost regretted it; it was obvious by now that a troll like Akko wouldn't be one to be swayed or consoled by a little humor, but it was the only thing he could think to do.

When Akko stopped, Zeffer quietly, cautiously, took a few steps to close some of the distance between them, coming to a stop only a few feet away. He knew she was more or less wrecked by the situation, but he couldn't help but feel his usual optimism.

"I'm sorry, Akko - that was dumb, but..."

He slunk closer after a moment, before daring to reach out again, gently wrapping his arms around her shoulders and neck in a gentle embrace. For a moment, he squeezed her against his chest.

"It'll be alright. You aren't alone now, right? And, I'll help out any way I can."

It was tempting to go on, to tell her that she would be able to give it a better start than most mutants got, but he held his tongue, not wanting to overwhelm her any more than she already was.  

[melona-pan]

Akko remained silent. Making a low dismissive grumble, she faintly bobbed her head at Zeffer's apology. His bloodpusher was in the right place, but she was rarely- if ever- in the mood for his jokes. Certainly not now. Even if there had been a better way for Zeff to respond, to help bring her down, Byakko couldn't list it; not having a firm control on her own emotions, or at least, her facade, was terrifying. It was different in the heat of battle, when she felt cornered and her feral instincts surfaced, but this was entirely new to her. Losing control like that- she still shook.

When Byakko heard shuffling directly behind her, she started to throw a glance at Zeff over her shoulder, not at all suspecting him to curl around her and mumble more words of consolation. "Nn-" Her body went rigid. As he wrapped around her, Akko took a sharp breath and held it, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip. The comforting feeling of his body heat wrapping around her sent her spinning back to that night in the Fronds; when they had been reunited after their capture at Busthind, and had all but collapsed on one another in a fit of confused joy. It was one instance in their relationship that always stood out as an irregularity to her, even factoring in what they had gone through. Maybe it wasn't what had happened so much as... how she had felt? Byakko hadn't let herself linger too long on it. Her eyelids fluttered shut.

She reached up with one hand to graze Zeffer's forearm, unsure herself if she wanted to wrench his arms away. After a moment, she let out a weighted sigh. Her twitching muscles eased. Slumping against him, Akko returned Zeff's squeeze with one of her own, tentatively settling back against his chest. His blood pusher felt like it was pumping at an abnormal beat, much like her own she still felt lumped at her throat.

"Yeah. Thanks." Byakko cracked her eyes open and focused on the ground. "I- I mean, I'm not alone, I have..." you, for starters. She backtracked, both to correct her evasiveness on the topic of the egg, and true to her nature, to avoid thinking too deeply about them.

"I'm okay. Really, I am- it's just... a lot to process." Akko shrugged meekly from the cocoon of his arms. The rebellion was still picking itself off the ground- there were no restful nights on the near horizon. Balancing that with caring for a mutant child? How? A lone, pained laugh escaped her lips.

"This is how Trolldad must have felt."  

[kamileunaire]

Zeffer sighed softly as he felt Byakko melt against him, relieved that she wasn't irritated enough to shove him away. Ultimately, the embrace was just as instinctual a reaction as his joking; his desire to help and protect her was beginning to run deep, and his relief over her acceptance of his gesture outweighed the minor confusion that came with offering it in the first place. Giving reassurance during such a vulnerable moment certainly wasn't very kismesislike, but he couldn't imagine doing anything else.

"I know it is, Akko. Just remember, I've got your back. Whatever you need." He gazed ahead into the dark of the cavern, losing himself to his thoughts for a moment as he muttered more consolation. Being a lusus for a little troll...it was a wild thought, to be sure. Imagining Akko as a Trollmom had him grinning again, but he was interrupted from the tiny daydream by her cynical laughter.

"Yeah. I bet he'd be pretty proud of you, though." Zeffer couldn't help the grin that bled into his voice, but the comment was meant to be sincere, a coverup for the surprise he felt over Akko mentioning such a thing in the first place. "But he found you after you hatched, didn't he? Are you...are we gonna leave it alone? Or take it?" He tilted his head. There was a hitch to the whole thing, afterall. Akko was jumping the gun...there was always the possibility that they wouldn't make it through the trials. Swallowing, Zeffer hoped that wouldn't be the case.  

[melona-pan]

"I know you do." Her voice cracked as she trailed off. Zeffer always was there now. Byakko pressed her back against him, eyes still fixated on the rough stone below their feet. Swallowing back the myriad of emotion gathering in a tangled lump at her throat, she dug her claws into the fabric of his sleeves.

Proud wasn't a word she would have selected to use. Nearly everyone in the Initiative was dead, and ultimately, it was her fault. The burdening weight of that would never be lifted. Ever. Proud because she kept resiliently moving forward? She simply knew no other way, and refused to let those who had given her a real life die in vain. Byakko's mouth pressed in a firm, creased line, ducking her head out of habit to hide her faltering countenance even though she was facing away from Zeffer. The comment was left unaddressed.

"He found me long after that." Most of Zeff's voice reached her like static, but she noticeably tensed under his arms when he corrected himself from 'you' to 'we'. "It's not a good idea to intervene until after the trials, if that's what you're asking..." she trailed off, frowning down at a pebble by her left foot. But before the lusi came.

Akko suddenly straightened up and dropped her arms to her sides, clearing her throat with a feigned cough. She shrugged Zeffer's arms off, breaking their embrace by taking a few steps forward. Scratching at the back of her hot neck, she paused, and briefly shot him a glance over her shoulder. "We'll pick this up again in a few nights." She needed some fresh night air to clear her head. Some time.

Her fingers curled against her palm as she looked back towards the exit, struggling to keep emotions she didn't want to entertain dammed up. Slowly extending one arm backwards, Akko changed her mind and offered out her still-clammy hand to Zeffer. He was always there now. As confusing as their blossoming blackrom was to her, the egg threw her off even more so. Having him by her side was comforting, he wanted to be there- why was she fighting it? "Come on. Let's go."  

[kamileunaire]

Zeffer nuzzled against her quietly as she acknowledged the reassurance, exhaling slowly and wishing there was more that he could say. As silence fell on the conversation, he let his thoughts wander again, hoping what he'd said wasn't completely foolish. The disastrous events that had occured within the rebellion were not Akko's fault, but he had no real way of knowing how badly she blamed herself. In the end, the Initiative still lived, no matter how small it had become. They had secured the mother grub, and a sliver of a chance at a better future.

"I thought not. Just making sure we were on the same page, I suppose..." Though he was hardly a stickler for rules, removing an egg from the mother grub went against more than any kind of societal rule. Despite that fact, Zeffer found himself hoping that the little troll would be able to survive whatever kind of trial they set up. Pondering its failure to survive (and such an event's effect on Akko) wasn't even something he wanted to bother with for the moment.

As Akko stepped forward, he loosened his hold, and brushed his hands over her shoulders again, squeezing gently before letting go altogether. "Alright." He couldn't banish the little smirk that came as she glanced back at him, but the real surprise came when she reached back to offer her hand. With the heat rising to his face, he reached out to take it, and squeezed gently as he stepped forward to follow her out of the cave.