Chapter Text
“Louie, dear? Is everything okay?”
Louie’s Nana opened the door to his bedroom, finding the young Hocotatian laying down and sniffling in the type of frustration only little kids could express.
“Oh sweetie, what’s wrong?”
Louie grunted as his Nana sat on the mattress next to him, pulling the blanket even further over his head.
“Don’t you want to go outside? It’s a beautiful day, especially now that the rain’s stopped and the sun’s shining!”
“No.”
“No, you don’t want to go out?”
“… Not beautiful.”
“Prefer rainy weather, then?”
“… Mrgh.”
After a good decade or so of looking after her grandson, Nana knew the difference between a grunt of “leave me alone” and a grunt of “stay, but don’t talk.” Instead she simply leaned back, watching what few clouds remained in the sky pass across the view from Louie’s window.
“… people outside.”
“Well yes, they do tend to do that when the weather’s nice.”
“Don’t wanna.”
“I never said you had to go out to see other people, just if you wanted to go outside.”
“…chers do.”
“Pardon?”
“Teachers. MAKE me go outside. Talk. They…” another grunt, but this time it was one of exertion as he sat up and leaned against his grandmother. “They act sad.”
“About you?”
“… Yeah.”
“Do you think they should be sad?”
“Nuh-uh.”
It would be a few years from now, but eventually Louie would understand that the sad looks given by teachers and other grown-ups were looks of pity. What he’d take even longer to learn is why they would pity anything about him. No parents? He had Nana, didn’t she count? Why should he be sad at not having parents when he never knew what having them was like in the first place? It was like thinking he should feel sad that he’d never have extra arms, or leaves for hair.
Wait, he took that back. Extra arms would be AWESOME.
Nana didn’t look at him like other grown-ups did, though. He could tell she still missed whoever his “parents” were, but she gave Louie space to do what he wanted, act how he felt was right. It made talks like this easier, because he could trust that when she made him do something it really WAS because he’d feel better afterwards.
“Well then, instead of talking with other people, how about you come explore with me? It’s the perfect day to teach you foraging!”
Louie’s ears perked up instantly, followed by the rest of his face. One of his favourite things to do was help Nana sort all the berries and plants and bugs and cool rocks she brought home from the hills behind their house, and now she was going to bring him along?
“Yeah! Yeah! Food!” Louie’s bad mood was all but forgotten as he jumped down and ran for the door, only stopping to replace his blanket with his favourite jacket and cap.
Nana chucked and followed afterwards, gathering her supply bag and some extra baskets. “Don’t go too far ahead now, I have to show you the best spots!”
Louie’s enthusiasm lasted longer than his Nana had expected; normally it would only take a few minutes before he’d start complaining about the heat, or feeling itchy, or bug bites, or his feet hurting, but the promise of learning to do the same things as her propelled him through a good hour or two of gathering berries, grubs, edible flowers, and a VERY lucky find of mushrooms under the base of a fallen tree.
It was barely mid-afternoon by the time the pair returned, but Louie’s energy lasted just long enough for him to take off his shoes before collapsing onto the living room sofa, quickly falling asleep to dreams of all the snacks he knew how to search for now.
He later woke up to the delicious, earthy smell of mushroom and beetle stew, set in front of him on the coffee table accompanied with a fresh bread roll.
“Well, looks like I timed that perfectly!” Nana said, leaning back on the cushion next to him. “Made with some of the things you found today, hope you like it!”
Louie blinked, still waking up from his unscheduled nap. “But… table…?”
“Eh, this is a special occasion. And you looked all snug as a.. heh, bug in a rug, didn’t want to disturb you!”
The young boy nodded and grinned, sitting up to get comfortable before picking up the large mug of stew. He tilted it back to his mouth, took a big swig... and spat it out immediately, sending broth and bits of bug legs across the floor.
“Louie-!” Nana shouted, not in anger but surprise and worry. “What is it?”
Louie blinked, not quite sure himself in the seconds before his brain caught up to his reflexes. Even then, he could only look down to the mug in his hands and say:
“Tastes like DIRT!”
“Dirt? Can’t be, I taste-tested it myself and didn’t catch anything… here, let me…” with a quick nod of consent from Louie, Nana took the mug from him, dipped in a clean spoon, and gave it a try.
“Why- you’re right, it DOES taste like dirt! How did-“
As she prodded some of the stew’s contents with her spoon, the culprit became clear; a chunk of beetle carapace, with a large globule of wet soil stuck between its segments that had somehow stayed intact through cleaning, prep, and cooking.
“Oh dear… I’m sorry, Louie, I don’t know how I missed that! I’ll get you a fresh serving right away.“
“It’s okay Nana!” Louie said, already grabbing some cloth to wipe up his mess. “Could taste worse!”
“Worse?” Nana asked, amused at Louie’s high spirits and grateful that he wasn’t upset. “What could taste worse than dirt, then?”
Her clever, temperamental, sometimes odd, but always loving grandson grinned up at her, with a warning that she recognized a split-second too late.
“SHIT!”