Where's the Bed?

Mossiest, August 28, 2020; 12:41 / FB 57937
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Where's the Bed?
By: Mossiest

This day had been pretty uneventful. Toby had wanted to take Liam for a walk outside - for the first time ever - but right before they were to get ready, the pitter-patter of rain ruined his plans. Liam made it very clear that "sky-wawa am bad fow fwuffy", and he seemed scared of the rumbling thunder that only seemed to get closer with each passing moment. They were stuck doing the same stuff they did the day before: stacking blocks, playing with a ball, Liam watching tv while Toby listened along (who gave into temptation and joined Liam in singing along), and even reading a few stories while Liam lied on Toby's lap.

The two had really enjoyed themselves, but time was not on their side; as morning went to noon to evening to night, it was time to go to bed. Neither were particularly eager to go to sleep, but neither could ignore their weary bodies' cries for sleep. But it wasn’t like they couldn’t do it again tomorrow; this storm was supposed to last a couple more days.

Toby never had much trouble going to sleep in this kind of weather: the pitter-patter of rain was comforting, and even the rumbling thunder was a pleasant sound - so long as it wasn’t too close or loud.

Unfortunately, a loud one woke him from a pleasant dream he was having. He knew immediately that he was awake when he heard the rain once more - and that his mouth was feeling dry. A quick check with his clock told him it was 11PM - late, but not too late. He could afford to get a glass of water.

Carefully, he opened his door, so as not to wake Liam up...which didn’t make a difference because once he left his room, he could hear sobbing coming from across the hall. He recognized the source of the distinctive “huu-huu-huu”-ing immediately. Slowly, he walked through the hall, the sobbing getting louder until it was coming right out of Liam’s saferoom. “Huuuuu...nu wike scawy noisie. Too woud!”

“Liam? Did that wake you too?”

“Smaww-daddeh? Am dat you?” He heard Liam’s hoofsteps get closer, until he was right at the saferoom gate. “Smaww-daddeh, Weeum nu wike woud scawy noisie! Too scawdies to sweep, huu huu!”

“It’s just thunder, Liam. It can’t hurt you while you’re in here.”

A low rumbling could be heard once more. It wasn’t nearly as loud as the one that woke him up, but it just made Liam’s whimpering and sobbing even louder. Toby knew he was going to have to help him calm down, or he’d be whining all night. He sighed, kneeling down and reaching forward into the room. “Come on, Liam. I’ll hold you. I’m at the-” He was caught off guard when he didn’t need to probe around the room to find Liam - the fluffy found him first, doing a tiny hop into his outstretched hands. “I didn’t know you could see me, Liam. I thought all the lights were out.”

“Mummah weave smaww wight in Weeum’s woom.” Toby lifted him up, carrying Liam in his arms; Liam was definitely bigger than he was a couple weeks ago, a little more than half as long as Toby was tall, but he was still light enough that even Toby could carry him. And his sister said this was as big as he was supposed to get - unless he got fatter. “Fank you, smaww-daddeh. Weeum wuv when smaww-daddeh howd Weeum.”

“Yeah, I know.” Now, the real challenge was holding Liam while getting that glass of water he wanted. Carefully, he walked to the kitchen as Liam hugged him as tightly as possible (not very - a turtleneck could hug tighter). He had some trouble holding Liam with one hand as he looked for a glass with the other, but Liam seemed to do his best to stay balanced, doing what he could to support himself.

Glass filled, Toby carefully walked back to Liam’s saferoom, ready to deposit the fluffy right back into its room - but another rumble brought back his fearful sobbing. “Huuu...su scawy! Pwease stay wiff Weeum, smaww-daddeh!” Toby could feel a dampness on his neck - Liam was crying, or doing a very poor job of holding his tears in.

"Come on, Liam." Toby knelt down so Liam could safely go back into his saferoom - but Liam didn't budge, holding on as tight as he could. "Liam, it's not that bad! I told you that thunder and lightning won't hurt you! Come on, I gotta go back to bed!"

"Huuhuuhuu...nu wike woud noisies…"

Toby sighed. It was really silly for Liam to overreact like this, but the little guy seemed too scared. Even if he did go back to his room, he was going to be whining all night. And the next night, if the weather reports were correct. Liam would probably get sick from a lack of sleep.

He stood there, mulling over what to do - before reaching an idea.

"Hey Liam: do you need to use the litterbox at all?"

"N-nu, smaww-daddeh. Weeum make poopies and peepees in wittabox aftah woud noisie wake Weeum. Nu wan make scawdy-poopies and peepees and be bad fwuffy."

"Good." Toby promptly stood back and walked back to his room - still holding on to Liam.

"Smaww-daddeh? Whewe am goin?"

"We're going to my room. You can share my bed with me tonight."

"W-WEAWWY!?" Liam's sobbing subsided - and was replaced with joyous giggling. It was enough to bring a smile to Toby's face. "Weeum su 'cited! Get to shawe bed wiff smaww-daddeh!"

It wasn't long until they were finally back to Toby's room. Toby let Liam down onto his bed - and finally took a drink of his water. However, Liam didn't seem too calm yet. "Smaww-daddeh? Weeum nu wike dawkies. Dawkies scawy."

Toby let out a small snort. "Might want to be careful who you say that around. Gimme a sec, I'm sure my lamp is still hooked up." It only took a few moments to find that yes, it was indeed still hooked up, and lowered it as low as he could without turning it off completely.

"Fank you, smaww-daddeh! Smaww-daddeh am su bwave! Nu am scawed of dawkies and can find anyfing in dawkies! Smaww-daddeh am su smawt!"

"It's not like it makes a difference if there's light or not." Toby climbed back into his bed, careful not to lie on Liam - and earned Liam's embrace on his arm. "It doesn't make much of a difference for me, 'cept if I look at a light. Then it makes my eyes hurt."

"Smaww-daddeh wike dawkies mowe den bwighties? Smaww-daddeh su siwwy! Buh why smaww-daddeh have bwight-fing in nu need bwighties?"

"In case if someone else needs to use my room. Or is sharing the bed with me." He gave Liam a scratch on the back of his head, earning a happy "Coo~". "Now come on, Liam. We gotta go back to sleep. Wanna sleep under the blanket?"

"Yus! Weeum wan sweep unda bwankie wiff smaww-daddeh!" Toby only needed to lift the blanket up to hear Liam scurry inside it, lying right beside him. "Tee-hee! Weeum su 'cited tu make fwuffpiwe wiff smaww-daddeh!"

Toby laid the blanket back down, covering both himself and Liam. "What do you mean by a fluffpile? Don't you need other fluffies for that?"

He felt Liam scurry out from under blanket, until he was right up to his neck. "Fwuffpiwe am when fwuffies gu in a piwe togeva. Hewp fwuffies stay wawm when it am cowd ow when making sweepies, ow jus when fwuffies am fwends. Weeum nu am cowd ow wonewy...buh Weeum wan make fwuffpiwe wiff smaww-daddeh, even if smaww-daddeh nu am fwuffy."

"Oh. I guess we can make a fluffpile then. Just...not on my neck." He gently pushed Liam down to his chest, pulling the blanket down enough that Liam could still peek from under there. "There, that's better."

He felt Liam place a leg as far as he could over his torso, like he was trying to hug him to sleep. Another rumbling came from outside, and Liam did seem to hug him closer - but there was no whimpering or wailing. Seemed like his plan was working.

Carefully, he embraced Liam, hugging him close but gently. He could feel Liam's chest go up and down against his own. It was like he had a stuffed animal in his bed; it had to have been years since he needed to cling to one to fall asleep.

It felt nice.

"Good night, Liam."

"Goo'night, smaww-daddeh!"

~~~~~~~

It wasn't long until Toby fell back to sleep, once more enjoying a dream.

Toby found himself on top of what felt like a veritable sea of cloud. He was able to walk through it fairly easily, despite how thick it was and how his feet were completely enveloped within. No matter how far he walked, it just went on forever. The only way he knew it was moving underneath him was the soft breeze flowing against his face.

With no end in mind, he fell back into the sweet-smelling ground, his body sinking in ever so slightly. He rolled around in it, eventually settling on lying belly-first with his face buried within. Just lying there like that felt so comfortable; he didn't dare move any more.

It was only then that he heard something outside of his own playful giggling: "Smaww-daddeh wike pwaying on fwuff?"

He recognized the voice instantly. "Of course, Liam!" His fur just felt so nice - and now there was so much of it! No matter how much he’d rolled around, it never felt like he was getting close to an edge.

“Huggies fow smaww-daddeh!” Liam announced, and before he knew it, Toby felt the soft, warm fur wrap around his body. He struggled to hug it back - not due to any force behind the hug, but because he struggled to find any part to hug; it was as if he was being hugged by a very soft carpet. He opted to just spread his arms over it as much as he could, and he heard Liam giggled as he tried. “Weeum wuv smaww-daddeh huggies! And wuv giving smaww-daddeh huggies!” The embrace tightened around him slightly. “Weeum wuv smaww-daddeh mowe den mummah!”

Toby chuckled. “I love you too, Liam! You’re the best pet ever!”

However, dreams aren’t exclusive to just humans; Liam too was dreaming.

He was in a beautiful field, with vibrant green grass and a beautiful blue sky sprawling as far as the eye could see. The sun in the sky shone bright, but didn't hurt to look at, and it wasn't too hot or too cold.

And most important, he wasn't alone.

Liam could hear distressed cheeping and peeping coming from nearby. He was quick to spot the source: a weanling, its eyes shut close. He was quick to approach the weanling. "Wha wong, widdwe fwend?" he asked, nuzzling his side.

The weanling's distressed noises ended. "Hungy!" He announced, slowly walking over to Liam and extending his legs, his eyes still shut tight. "Nee' miwkies an nummies!"

"You su siwwy!" Liam reached out and embraced the weanling. "You awweady have teefies! Nu need miwkies nu mowe!"

"B-buh nee' miwkies tu gwow big and stwong! Huuu...nu wan be smaww babbeh fowevah."

It earned a small giggle from Liam. "Ooky, Weeum knuw whewe tu find nummies." Gently, he lifted the weanling onto the back of his neck, letting him move onto his back and make himself comfortable.

Liam knew he just needed to look behind himself to find food - even though the whole place was just a field of grass just a moment ago, turning around changed it to an more familiar environment; the beautiful pictures and soft white ground of his room. He just needed to walk out of it, onto the soft carpet (not-fluff-ground as he knew it) and onto the tougher but smooth kitchen tiles (good rocks).

He spotted the purple-maned human mother he knew for so long, standing by the stove (hot-nummies-maker). She seemed to know they were there, turning to look down at the pair. "Thanks for bringing him here, Liam! You're such a good fluffy!" She bent down and gave him nice scratchies behind his ears.

"Hungy!" the weanling (again) announced.

"Alright. Don't worry. I got food for you right here." She laid down a bowl and a plate for him, the former containing milk while the latter had that nice-tasting yellow nummies she'd sometimes make. Carefully, he grabbed the weanling off his back with his mouth, placing him by the bowl and urging him to drink - which he readily did.

Liam heard another bowl placed down next to him - and he recognized the scent immediately. He eagerly turned around to the generous serving of spaghetti, drenched in red sauce. "This is for being such a good fluffy, Liam!" his mother told him, "It's all for you!"

Liam gasped in joy, before digging right into the spaghetti bowl. It was the best-tasting spaghetti he ever tasted, and he couldn't stop himself from going at it. He only took a break to check on the weanling, noticing he was taking some bites out of the yellow nummies.

Liam took a strand of spaghetti, depositing it on the weanling's plate. "Twy dis. It am da bestest nummie evah!"

The weanling did as he asked, finding the noodle quickly and taking a small bite of it - and looking positively delighted. "Dis am sketties!" he announced, "Da bestest nummies evah! Fank you, Weeum!" He waddled over to Liam, eyes still shut, and hugged Liam's leg. "Wuv!"

Liam smiled, looking down at the little weanling. His beige fluff and orange mane were just so cute! He bent down, hugging him as well. "Weeum wuv you too, smaww-daddeh!"

Liam's eyes reopened, finding himself still sharing the bed with Toby. The room was slightly more illuminated than before, and he could see through a see-through wall (window) that it was still very cloudy outside, though much brighter than when he went to sleep.

It took him a few seconds to process that what he'd seen before was just a sleepy-picture. His small-daddy was right beside him, still breathing in and out quietly with his eyes closed - still very much a human and not a fluffy. And still much bigger than Liam, though still smaller than most other humans he'd seen.

Liam giggled to himself. Yes, his small-daddy may be a human and could talk and walk on his own and had a mouth full of teeth to eat food with, but he was still drinking milk and couldn't see and was still very dependent on others to guide him and give him food.

Was it really wrong to think he was like a foal, and to try and help and guide him around like he was one?