Retry

Tamama smashed fist after fist into the thin plastic. The dull thuds echoed together with the tadpole's tiny grunts in the wide training area, until a fresh impact brought a faint pop. Pulling his hand free, he shook off bits of stuffing and turned away from the punching bag, somehow disgusted with the inanimate object's weakness.

“Oh, you're doing well, aren't you, Tama?” Momoka smiled sweetly, her praise indicated that she had been watching from the doorframe for a very long time. He froze, and the bizarre frustration faded from his liquid black pupils, to be replaced by an equally odd nervousness. She either didn't notice, or she was ignoring it. “I have a special treat for you, because it does seem like you've been working a lot lately. This isn't even on the shelves yet!”

Tamama examined the bag of sweets she held out with quiet interest, but gravity did most of the work as she dropped it into his hands, as opposed to the leaping grab of an overexciting bouncy ball. “Th-thanks, Momo!” He was obviously forcing himself to return her smile. The wrapper's crinkling was soon followed Tamama's strained gulping, and the pattern repeated for each piece of candy. That rhythm was the only sound in the room for a long moment. Finally, Momoka sighed, folding her arms impatiently.

“If you're not going to enjoy it, don't eat it. I thought it would help, that's all.” A last, dry swallow was accompanied by a wince, and the private clutched at the bag more tightly. He shook his head, “There's nothing wrong, though. Momo, you don't need to worry, you don't!”

She opened her mouth, then thought the better of whatever words she had planned to use. She ended up giggling anxiously, “Silly Tama... What else do you think I'm going to do?” She pressed a gracefully curled hand to her heart, and looked away. “You didn't say anything, and my fail safe plan didn't work.”

“Neh... Momo, were you...?” He pulled the bag away from himself, staring at it dumbly.

“It's nothing. I just thought...” She hesitated again, her voice stuck in her throat as if she was the one who had eaten too many chewy candies. However, when she finished, it was more solidly. “It might be nice if you could be a little more cheerful. Even if I couldn't do much more than that.” Another sigh, tiny and sad, slipped out like audible punctuation.

“W-well... it's just a little...” He flushed, jamming his eyes shut; he was embarrassed at having been so easily found out. Heroes were strong, they shouldn't get scared so easily, they aren't just little kids! Despite that, she had obviously known about this for a while, and he hadn't known about it for much longer. He swallowed, but this time, he was just trying to press down his own shame for worrying her. It filled his mouth with a bitter taste, despite his efforts. He pouted thinly.

Momoka knelt down, smoothing her skirt over her knees. It was a well-mannered instinct, but her encouragement spoke of blood that was hotter than it was blue. “Yes, I'm sure. And you'll be able to handle it easily.” She jabbed a swift straight over Tamama's head. “And you'll have help, you know... Whether you'd like it or not.” Even if she had to track him down on some rock that was far less deserving of its status as a planet than Pluto had been, he would have help. She would see to that, of course. When he tipped his gaze back up to hers, she saw tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. He sniffled, and she blinked, startled.

“Okay... Momo... I think it's okay if you... w-want to...” Tamama clenched his fists. His pupils wobbled, but he fixed her strongly in his gaze nonetheless. “But only if you promise not to get in my way!”
“You should promise me that, too,” She said, a faint, triumphant smirk etched on her face for about a second, matched by rings circling her lavender-water eyes. He considered it, seeming petulant, but then nodded.

“Then...” He beamed up at her suddenly, clearly relieved, “Do you have more of these? They're really good!” He pushed the bag into her face, and she took his other hand in hers. “Yes, certainly. I think it's snack time... And then...”