Saved Soldier (AB/DL)

21: Apple Slices

Jono's Pov:
I stare at Vicky sleeping quietly and run my fingers through her soft hair. It was a beautiful and perfect shade of blonde. Her breathing was at ease. I knew not to move, because if I did, she would probably be woken up. It was nice to see her so relaxed. She truly does look like an angel. I blush and look down at the blanket in my own thoughts. She truly was so perfect. Not only her looks, but her kindness. She could easily treat me like garbage here, but she hasn't.
     I continue to play with her hair and sigh dreamily, smiling at her. There was a gentle knock on the door, which I calmly look up at. Clay came in, carrying Brodie over his shoulder. Brodie was gently sucking on a camouflage patterned pacifier and sleeping quietly. His entire body was pressed into Clay, and his head was buried in Clay's strong neck.
I smile and wave, then put a finger up to my lips, pointing at Vicky with my other hand.
Clay looks over at her and smiles while nodding, knowing not to disturb her. He attempts to lay Brodie down on the bed but a whine could be heard from him. Clay smiles and simply continues to hold him. Brodie readjusts himself and gets comfortable once again.
     "Have you been sleeping?" Clay asks softly and in a hushed tone. I nod.
     "Sleeping a long time..." I mumble.
     "Are you Hungry?" Clay asks, making me nod again. He smiles and forces Brodie to lay on the bed. Brodie quickly clung to Vicky, causing me to pout a bit. Clay lifts me up and chuckles. "Are you protective of your Mommy?" He smiles, making me fold my arms and continue to pout. Of course I was protective of her!! She's soooo super nice!!
Clay held me on his hip and grabs a grey blanket. It wasn't very soft, like the ones on the bed, but it was better than a lot of the other blankets I've had before. He wraps me up in it and hides my face in his chest. "A lot of people know about our little project... but not too many people are so keen on two enemy soldiers being pampered like this." He whispers softly and gives me a warm smile, walking to the door. He turns the knob quietly, as we both give the other two one last look. I hold my hand out of the blanket and wave my hand towards them, yet my hand was quickly pushed back inside the blanket by Clay.
I frown a bit but go with it, keeping my face hidden as he brought me down the hallway. Eventually, he slows down and sets me on a chair. I rub my eyes and drop the blanket, looking around the room. We were in a small kitchen, which had all the basic things a kitchen might have. Stove, oven, microwave, cupboards, a fridge, all the basics.
"You're super Lucky. You get to eat a delicacy today." Clay laughs a little and pulls out a can of Spam, a can of green beans, and lastly... the most gorgeous, juicy, shiny red fruit ball I have never ever seen before. I look at it in awe and curiosity.
Clay grabs a pan, and one pot. He fills the pot with water and began to boil it. "We'll save this here apple for dessert, Alright?" He smiles at me and sets the red juice ball aside. I frown. "N-no.... now!!" I reach for it and pout.
Clay looks away from me, shaking his head and smiling a little more. He puts the spam on the pan. I frown and thought for a bit before I smile a little. I think I knew exactly how to win it over!! Clay seemed like a very passive person.
"B-But... you'd let Brodie have it..." I tear up and sniffle, pausing for a moment before mumbling. "Mommy would let me have it." I whimper and let my bottom lip fold out and quiver.
Clay took one more deep breath before letting out a soft groan and caving in. "Fine." He grabs a knife and began to cut it into little slices. I smile widely and watch him cut it, I was full of excitement to try the juice ball. He puts the fresh slices into a bowl and sets it in front of me. "Have you had these before??" He asks softly.
I shake my head and smile at the slices, grabbing on to one and biting right into it. I moan a little bit in delight, loving the sweet taste of the shiny red juice slice.
Clay smiles and flips the spam over, adding the beans to the boiling water. "Apples were my favorite food growing up, but now with all this war going on... it's hard to obtain them." He doesn't look up from the stove. I just nod and eat my slices slowly, savoring the flavor. It was the best food I've ever had!
After another few minutes, Clay plates my food and sets the dish in front of me. He grabs a fork and uses the washed knife from before to cut up my spam. He then began to stab the fork in to the food, and slowly feed me the slices of spam.
     I ate the familiar food without complaint. I had about half the slices, because I knew to save some for after the meal.
     "Man, you should teach Brodie how to be so good! I'll have to give you a piece of chocolate too if you keep this up!!" He smiles and laughs.
     I tilt my head a little, food still in my mouth as I ask anyway. "Tock-lit??"
     Clay nods. "Chocolate. Don't talk with your mouth full, please."
     Right when I was almost done eating, with the acceptation of a few beans, a small click came from the door of the kitchen, and in walked Victoria, carrying the still sleeping Brodie. "You can't just leave me with your brat." She grumbles at him groggily. "You also can't take my boy away." She says with slight sass.
     "He was hungry." Clay shrugs. "Isn't that right, Jono?"
     "Yeah!!" I quickly nod in agreement. "I Hungry!!" I rub my belly and smile up at her.
     "Well... Fine." She nods and hands Brodie off to Clay, sitting where Clay was next to me. "You should have woken me up..."
"Mama too sleepy..." I say and open my mouth quickly as she fed me the rest of the beans.
"I... Yeah, I guess you're right." She smiles at me a little. "Woah... did you get an Apple baby? You lucky boy!" She speaks with as much excitement as she could in her sleepy state.
"Yeah!!" I say loudly. "He gave to me!!" I point at Clay.
"Shh, baby." Victoria frowns and puts a finger to my lips, pointing her other finger over to Brodie, who whimpered softly and hid his face in Clay's neck. He was gripping roughly on to his shirt with his one arm, shaking a bunch. His face was a bit shiny since he was sweating.
     Clay grabbed the blanket from before and wrapped Brodie in it.
     "I do that...?" I whisper and feel my eyes start to water. I would hate to make Brodie feel upset... but he looked a little different than upset... did I scare him?? I whimper a little bit. What have I done?? I don't want to scare my best friend!!
     "Hey, no you didn't baby it's okay, shhh..." Victoria looks down at my slices and pushes one into my mouth. "Here baby, you have these yummy apple slices to eat, those are soooo so good, it's okay." She gives me a forced smile. "He's always so dramatic, isn't he??"
     I watched as Clay bend down to Victoria and whispered in her ear. Victoria listened and after he stood up, she gave him a small nod. Clay sighs and carries Brodie out of the room.
     "Where they going?" I ask and move my face away from the incoming slice.
    "They're just gonna go to bed for now, honey." She says and avoids looking at me.
     "Okay... I trust mommy..." I say and sigh, grabbing on to the slice. "Mommy want slice??"
     She shakes her head. "No, I'm all set baby, thank you though." She manages to smile at me and pat my head before standing up and washing my dishes in the sink.
     "Okay..." I mumble and quietly eat my slices while staring at the ground. I'm a bad friend, aren't I?

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Wow... summer was craaaaaazyyy!! Hope everyone had a good one!! ❤️