BT fic

If Darnell Fetzervalve was honest, he never would expect Buddy to do anything kind for anyone. He always expected to be given all the attention from the residents of Greasepit, including Darnell, and did nothing for anyone in return, with a few incredibly rare exceptions. Not that he minded; after all, it was part of Buddy's character, and that wasn't unusual in the slightest.

It was part of their daily cycle, and Darnell wouldn't complain, because it never bothered him. It was normal in their lives.

What was not, in any way, shape, or form, was Buddy doing something nice for him out of the goodness of his heart, without expecting anything in return.

The first time it happened, Darnell was working on the Rouser's engine in their garage. He'd been fixing up the radiator, which had gotten broken during their race the previous day, when Buddy strolled up, handing him a bottle of water and a pack of Fire Gut Jerky, along with a proper thank you for fixing up their truck.

"Sorry, I don't think I heard you right, Buddy. Did you just… thank me for fixing the Rouser?" The ferret asked, confusion written all over his face as he stared at his friend.

"Well, yeah, Darnell! Figured ya deserve some thanks for doin' all this for me again!" Buddy exclaimed cheerfully, slapping his friend on the back.

Okay… maybe he's doing this because he wants something from me in return, Darnell thought, his brow furrowing. He'd done that before, yeah.

"So you expect me to something else for you, then?" Darnell asked, taking the water and jerky from his friend and shutting the hood of the Rouser.

"Nah, Darnell, I don't want anything. Can't a guy do something for ya from the goodness of his heart?" Buddy asked, faking offense as he clutched at his heart dramatically. The ferret rolled his eyes, opening his water bottle and taking a drink.

"If that person wasn't you, I suppose," he muttered under his breath, going to their couch and flopping down on it, turning in the TV.

Darnell, by the end of the day, had just written that little act of selflessness by Buddy off as a fluke, and assumed that it would never happen again.

Of course, as it seemed to keep happening in the past few days, he was proven wrong.

It wasn't a big gesture, not at all, but it certainly both confused Darnell and warmed his heart. Buddy had bought him a few much-needed parts to help with the Rouser's upkeep, and given them to him a few days after that first incident. He had just dropped them in a small pile by the ferret's side as he was working on a headlight.

"Thanks, Buddy! Are you sure you don't want me to do something for you?" Darnell asked, stoll confused as to his best friend's motives.

"Ah, I'm sure, Darnell! Ya needed these, so I got 'em! No big deal!" Buddy exclaimed, once again brushing off his protests.

The ferret chose, this time, to leave that as it was. He was still confused, but again, it was probably nothing. He'd talked about needing to pick up those parts for days, Buddy was just trying annoyed at having to hear that every day, right?

As much as Darnell wanted to believe that, it probably wasn't true.

Apparently, Buddy was on a generous streak, because the very next day, he presented Darnell with a new can of hair spray. It was incredibly thoughtful, and he certainly felt grateful and glad for the gift. The ferret accepted it with a thanks, yet again, and Buddy brushed it off as no big deal, yet again.

It was getting tiring, trying to figure out his friend's motives for doing these things.

As Darnell had suspected, the gestures kept coming with no sign of stopping. Buddy had given him a new rag after they'd won another of their weekly races, a very poorly made but incredibly sweet friendship bracelet the day after that, more spare parts, it didn't seem to end.

Another new habit of Buddy's was to let Darnell have the last hot wing every time they went to the Concho Bolo. That made things even more confusing; Buddy insisted that he should always have the last one, no matter what.

"Oh come on, Buddy, this isn't like you at all. Why would you let me have the last one?" The ferret questioned, staring at the near empty bucket of wings on their table.

"Because you deserve it, stupid! Now just eat it so we can get outta here!" Buddy exclaimed, crossing his arms as he watched Darnell intently.

The ferret had to admit, he was a bit taken aback at how fiercely his best bro had insisted on him having the last wing. He did end up scarfing it down regardless, more than a little touched at Buddy's kindness.

Darnell didn't really understand this sudden burst of generosity, but he certainly appreciated it. He'd learned to stop questioning Buddy, and just go along with it, seeing as all of the gestures and gifts were fairly small.

At least, until they started becoming more and more  thoughtful, and in some cases, bigger.

About a week after the hot wing incident, Buddy let Darnell drive the Rouser to Leroy's to get some snack.

Buddy, who never let Darnell even touch the steering wheel, who used to insist on being the only one who'd ever drive the truck, no exceptions whatsoever, let Darnell drive it, like it was no big deal.

To say the least, the ferret was in utter shock. But there Buddy was, saying he could drive the Rouser.

"A- are you sure, Buddy? Are you feeling okay? You're not sick, right?" Darnell asked, wringing his hands. He wasn't sure he heard his bro right.

"I'm feeling absolutely fine, Darnell, and of course I'm sure, ya dummy! Now come on and get in!" Buddy exclaimed, waving the ferret over.

Darnell ambled over and climbed into the driver's seat, shutting the door. Buddy went around and sat in the passenger's seat by him. The ferret hesitantly inserted the key and started the truck up, looking over to see Buddy's encouraging smile and nod. He smiled back softly, starting to back the Rouser out of their garage.

Darnell felt… weird, driving the Rabble Rouser. It wasn't a bad weird, but it was certainly strange as heck. It felt almost surreal to him. He kinda liked it, actually.

The trip didn't take long, and Buddy let him drive both to Leroy's and back, much to Darnell's mixture of confusion and enjoyment. At least he was able to marvel at how well if a job he'd done at keeping up the Rouser.

Buddy still wouldn't give his reasoning for doing all of these things for Darnell, other than "he deserved it." He certainly didn't feel deserving of any of these gifts he was being given, not at all.

He ended up getting a few more heartfelt items, as well. One day, it was a olain white tee shirt with Buddy's face blown up on it, which Darnell had to admit, was really cute looking. He started wearing it under his jumpsuit whenever he had the chance, of course.

Another time, it was a macaroni art thing of the Rouser that Buddy gave the ferret. It was definitely out of nowhere, even among the absurdity of everything he'd been given, but he really liked it. It was really well done; Buddy must've spent a long time on it. Needless to say, Darnell hung it up on the wall by his bunk as soon as he could.

The ferret didn't think it could get any more strangely sweet after that macaroni art, but oh, was he so wrong.

It was after they'd won their weekly race, and had driven home, both exhausted but incredibly happy as they laughed and joked on their couch. After a few moments, they'd grown silent, just comfortable with each other's company as they sat and watched TV, when Buddy had suddenly gotten up and walked over to their beds, climbing up to his bunk and rustling around up there. Darnell watched him with part amusement and confusion, knowing he was most likely about to recieve another gift.

Buddy then cried out in triumph, scrambling back down and over to his bro once more, a folded up sheet of paper in his hand. He shoved it into Darnell's hands, smiling nervously, which was a new one for him.

"I made that for ya m'self, Darnell. It took my quite a bit to make, but I swear, I made it from the bottom of my heart for ya," he murmured, uncharacteristically nervous.

Darnell smiled back, looking down at the folded paper in his hands. He unfolded it carefully, and saw one of the most surprising things he'd ever laid eyes on.

It was a drawing of Buddy and himself standing at the winner's podium, holding up their trophy for first place together with big smiles on their faces. It was all drawn in crayon, and it looked to be created fairly crudely. Buddy's signature was written in red crayon on the bottom right corner, with a little smiley face next to it.

Darnell loved it so much.

He looked back up to see Buddy looking at him expectantly, apprehension writing all over his face. The ferret rolled his eyes and grinned.

"Thanks for this, Buddy! I really like it, good job," Darnell said, getting up from the couch and clutching the paper in his hands.

 "Ya really do like it, Darnell?" Buddy questioned, small grin on his face.

"Of course I do, Buddy! This is so awesome!" The ferret exclaimed, embracing his friend in the heat of the moment.

A tense moment later, Buddy chuckled, hugging his bro back. Darnell wasn't quite sure why he did that, but it felt like the right way of expressing his thanks in the moment. Plus, Buddy seemed to be enjoying it, so that was pretty good too.

Darnell pulled away just before it would become awkward, which was about four seconds in his book, and he caught a flicker of disappointment on Buddy's face for a split second. The ferret just played it off as his eyes playing tricks on him, but he still wasn't entirely sure.

The two didn't say much to each other after that moment, but Darnell was okay with it. Sometimes, when they weren't talking and joking, a small moment of quiet was appreciated.

When it was time for bed, the ferret made sure to hang the picture by the macaroni art before he went to sleep.

A few days passed after that, and oddly enough, Darnell didn't receive any gifts from Buddy. He guessed that his generosity phase must have ended with his drawing, which was admittedly rather disappointing. He was expecting to see something even more extravagant then before, but unfortunately, nothing.

Come to think of it, he hasn't seen Buddy much in the past few days, either. They'd share some form of breakfast, and then he would say something about having to run an errand, or go somewhere, and take off for the entire day.

The ferret wasn't sure where he had been going, but it seemed to be a recurring thing, this erratic and strange behavior Buddy was exhibiting. It was incredibly exasperating, even for his best bro normally.

Then came the most shocking day of all for Darnell.

It started off fairly normal, the two eating breakfast together, but this time, Buddy didn't up and leave, opting instead to flop on the couch and watch some TV. Still confused by the other's actions, the ferret ambled over to the Rouser, determinant on checking to see if it had any issues that needed to be taken care of.

Darnell did end up finding a problem with the radiator, as well as the fuel tank and a piston that needed to be replaced, and realized he needed to go to Leroy's and get more parts.

Bidding a quick goodbye to Buddy, he decided to leg it to Leroy's, as it wasn't a terrible distance away from their garage.

The ferret ended up spending quite a bit longer then he'd intended there, thanks to Leroy trying to sell him on some sort of new oil he'd just gotten shipped in. It seemed like no matter how many times he turned Leroy down, he would come up with another reason it was so amazing.

Eventually, though, Darnell was able to escape with the parts he needed and without any of that new oil, about an hour later than he had intended, much to his frustration.

When Darnell finally reached their garage, bag of parts in his hand, he was greeted with a sound he wasn't expecting to hear.

The sound of Buddy cursing loudly, followed by various banging and slamming noises.

The ferret had to say, he was intrigued to know what was causing his beat friend so much distress. His heart lifted a little when he thought that it could perhaps be another gift. Maybe it was a really big one that had taken a few days to finish? He wasn't entirely sure.

But when Darnell opened the door, shouting a cheerful greeting to Buddy, he was most certainly not expecting to see his best bro hunched over the Rabble Rouser's engine, wrench in hand and covered in grease and oil.

The ferret stood there in shock, mind not processing what he was seeing. Buddy was… working on the Rouser, and he actually didn't look hopelessly confused.

His bro looked up from the engine, and his grimace turned into a bright smile as he waved. "Hey Darnell, ya took a while to get home!" He exclaimed, setting the wrench down on a table as he shut the Rouser's hood.

"Buddy… you…" the ferret tried saying, finding that his voice wasn't really working that well to convey any semblance of shock that he had.

"I fixed it!" Buddy exclaimed simply, chest puffed out in pride as he wiped a bit of oil from his forehead.

The ferret was in utter astonishment. He was so surprised that his friend had managed to do all of that by his lonesome, and more than a little touched at the sentiment. It was quite possibly the best thing Buddy had done for him so far, and it was no easy feat.

"But… how did you do it?" Darnell questioned, equally impressed and confused at his actions. There had seemed to he a lot of that going around in the past week or two.

"Ah, it was simple once I asked Leroy to tell me how ta do all this! Plus, you know, I asked him to keep ya busy while I did all this so I could surprise ya," Buddy replied, cheerful gleam in his eyes as he walked over to the ferret, who had dropped the bag of parts on the floor by now.

"But I still don't get why the heck you're doing all of this awesome stuff for me, Buddy! You haven't told me anything, but you keep doing all of this for me!" Darnell exclaimed in frustration.

"Like I told you before, it's because you deserve all of this stuff, stupid!" Buddy replied heatedly, but something about his tone suggested he had more to say.

"That can't be it! You have to have more reasoning than that, Buddy. I know that most of the time you wouldn't, but not this time. Just tell me why you're really doing all of this," the ferret pleaded, voice softer now.

"It's really hard for me ta say, okay? I just think that yer really cool and awesome, so of course ya would deserve all of this," Buddy murmured, deflating a bit as he spoke.

Darnell sighed, knowing his friend too well. He still wasn't letting something out. "Come on, Buddy, there still has to be something-"

"It's because I love ya, okay Darnell!?" Buddy shouted suddenly, stopping the ferret in his tracks.

Darnell opened his mouth to say something, but then found he couldn't say anything. Buddy just said he… loved Darnell.

What? Whoa, what?

"Ah, fart nugget," Buddy whispered, slapping his forehead as he got in the Rouser faster than the ferret had ever seen him do it before and take off out of their garage before Darnell could even blink.

Darnell just stood there for a good few minutes, trying to process exactly what just happened.

Buddy said he'd been doing all of this good stuff for Darnell because he loved him. Like, for real loved him in the romantic sense.

"Wow," the ferret murmured, staring at the spot where a frustrated Buddy had just been.

Buddy had finally told Darnell what he had so badly wanted to know, and now he needed to figure out what, exactly, to do with that information.

Buddy loved him. That was insane.

Everything made so much sense now. All of those gifts and nice gestures were like Buddy's version flirting with him. That was really sweet to think about, actually.

So Buddy loved him a lot. The more Darnell thought about it, the more he realized he felt the same. Perhaps it wasn't something he'd ever felt that needed to be spoken, because it was just how things were. Maybe that's how they'd always been for the both of them.

Darnell had always felt whole around his friend. They stuck together, and always had been, for as long as each other could remember, all the way back since they were kids. There was always that underlying affection that never needed to be adressed.

Buddy just finally decided to take a huge risk and actually do something about it.

Darnell hoped he could, as well. He just had to figure out where his pal went, so he could fix things. Where would Buddy go if he felt down? The Bolo would be too obvious, and Ziel's wouldn't be viable, considering the ferret had just been there.

Sludge Puddle Creek was a likely option, though. It was quiet, and quite a ways away from Greasepit's town center, so it was a pretty good chance he'd go there.

Unfortunately, that meant Darnell had a long trek to make before he would get there.

-o0o-

It was sunset by the time Darnell reached the creek, legs tired and chest hurting from exhaustion. His luck did pay off, however, as he saw the Rouser parked next to the water a good thirty or so meters from him, Buddy sitting on the hood.

Darnell sighed, walking up to the truck quietly. Buddy hadn't seemed to notice him just yet, as he was too busy looking into the water. The ferret caught him mumbling something as he got closer.

"-can't believe I'd go an say somethin' as dumb as that, I mean, what was I thinkin'? He probably hates me now! Ah, jeez, I'm such a screw up! Stupid Muncie saying I should stupid do all of this stupid stuff," Buddy mumbled to himself angrily.

Darnell deflated a bit, not liking all of the self hatred coming from Buddy. It never was like him to do something like that, not ever.

"Hey," the ferret greeted softly, climbing up on the hood of the Rouser to sit next to Buddy.

Darnell's greeting gave Buddy a good start, as he jumped, looking over at his friend in fear and shock.

"Do you know why I made the Rouser myself?" Darnell asked, staring at Buddy intently.

This question seemed to completely catch him off guard, and he cocked his head to the side. "Uh, so we could win races and get a ton of money, right?" He asked uncertainly, scratching one of his ears.

The ferret shook his head. "I made it because when you got your license, all you'd talk about was getting your own truck so you didn't have to take the family car around, even though you couldn't afford one. That's all you'd talk to me about for like, three weeks, so I decided to make the Rouser just for you. I made it because you wanted it more than anything in the world," he explained, smiling as he did so.

Darnell hadn't ever told him that story because he never felt that it needed to be explained. With what was going on between them at the moment, it felt like the right time to say it.

Buddy's brows raised in shock. "That… that can't be it, can it? Ya made it for me because I said I wanted a truck, just like that? Come on, man, there's gotta be another reason," he murmured in disbelief.

Darnell chuckled. "Guess you're asking me for better reasoning now, huh, Buddy?" He questioned, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Well, yeah, since you're not screaming at me like a wild animal right now on account of what I said earlier," Buddy replied dryly.

"Oh boy, I really gotta say it, huh." Buddy nodded expectantly at Darnell, and he cleared his throat softly. "I, ehm… I thought about it and stuff, and I love you too, Buddy," he murmured, feeling his face heat up as he scratched the back of his neck.

Buddy looked at him for a second, his face unreadable, before it broke into a huge smile and he laughed.

"You mean that, right? Not foolin' me?" He questioned hopefully.

"I wouldn't do that to you, not ever, Buddy," Darnell stated, grinning back at his… well, not just his best friend anymore.

Buddy laughed again, and in his sudden rush of adrenaline he leaned over and kissed Darnell full on the mouth for a second, much to the latter's surprise. The ferret smiled sheepishly, looking over at his friend- no, not anymore.

"We're a thing now, huh? That's awesome," Darnell stated, laying down on the hood to look up at the sky, which was rapidly fading into darkness.

"I guess so, yeah. Awesome," Buddy replied, laying beside the ferret, getting close enough that they were both touching.

The ferret yawned loudly. "It's been a long day, in exhausted. We should probably go home, you know," he murmured, but in all honesty, he didn't want to get up.

"Why don't we just sleep here tonight? It's not a big deal, and we're a ways from everything. It's all good," Buddy stated, yawning as well.

"If you say so, Buddy," the ferret whispered tiredly, turning to his side and curling into him.

Buddy wrapped an arm around Darnell. "It's all good, dude. Night, man," he whispered back.

"Night, Buddy, and thanks for, you know, doing all of that cool stuff for me. That was really awesome," Darnell said as he closed his eyes.

The ferret waited for an answer, but then he started to hear snoring coming from Buddy, signaling he'd fallen asleep. He wondered how his… his boyfriend was able to get to sleep so quickly. It was something he wished he knew how to do.

Darnell yawned once more, feeling himself starting to drift off into sleep. He was glad all of that had happened the way it did, and he was glad this was able to come out of it.

He fell asleep feeling warm and loved.