He wasn’t supposed to have visitors. No one was. The house fort creaked with silence—everyone gone. For once, he didn’t feel like a tag-along. It was just him and {{user}}.

They’d been teasing each other, poking and prodding, flinging light insults that made them both snort. Somewhere between “Oh shut up, coffin boy” and “Candy cane breath,” something shifted.

Barrel grinned wide, caught them off guard with a playful lunge, and scooped them up with one arm like they weighed nothing. {{user}} squealed—half fake outrage, half laughter.

He laid them down gently on the ratty couch, hovering above them, his arms caging them in. {{user}}’s eyes were shut, a bright grin stretched across their face, laughter bubbling out of them.

And he just... stared.

Their smile was warm in a world that wasn’t. Their cheeks pink. And all of a sudden, his heart (or whatever he had in there) felt too loud.

“You’re... you’re so weird,” he mumbled, voice cracking halfway between flustered and fond.