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Snorpy died.
Snorpy died on Snaktooth Island, parasites budding from his flesh until there was nothing left of him.
Snorpy had been dead for seven months when Floofty walked out of the apartment they shared with Chandlo and didn't come back.
Chandlo waited a week before he let himself start to grieve anew, loss on top of loss. He'd always known loosing Snorpy would be bad — how could it not? — but the grief of losing Floofty was strange and unexpected and all the more cruel for it.
He tried to talk to Shelda, who helped a little, but not much.
.
Eggabell, who he'd thought trapped on Snaktooth forever at best, texted him: You home?
Chandlo tried to write a reply for half an hour, deleting each attempt. He settled with: yeah dawg glad your okay you coming over?
She replied: We have Snorpy. I thought I should warn you. We'll be there in an hour.
The world was a blur. Chandlo had just enough time and presence of mind to pile dishes in the sink, throw the laundry in the closet, and toss the beer cans, before the door opened and he found himself across the room, into Snorpy's arms.
. .
Snorpy was alive.
Snorpy had had to be reassembled out of constituent snak elements, Floofty was saying. With the help of Elizabert and Eggabell.
Snorpy was missing three fingers, two teeth, and a lot of memories. But he smiled at Chandlo, all the way to his eyes and his blush and the way he pressed his paws to his face and wiggled in awkward, incandescent joy.
Chandlo cried so hard he didn't manage to thank Eggabell and Elizabert before they slipped out. But he didn't need to detangle from Snorpy to feel Floofty's paw on his back, gentle and warm.
. .
Life did not return to normal. For a start, Snorpy needed help with things like shoelaces, jars, and deconstructing the TV. Secondly, Floofty did not leave.
Chandlo hadn't been sure if they would, but he found himself relieved every day they came back home. They helped explain things to Snorpy when he got confused, and comforted him when he got upset. And somehow, Chandlo didn't even get jealous when Snorpy sat by them instead of him, and fell asleep pressed to their side on the couch. When Floofty started shrieking because Snorpy had sleep-drooled on their fur, Chandlo just laughed.
. . .
'You know,' Chandlo said one day as he sat with Floofty on the couch and watched Snorpy grimly lift weights from across the room. 'I don't think I ever thanked you.'
'Hm?' Floofty glanced up from the book they were reading.
'For bringing him back.'
'Well.' Snorpy thought Floofty would look more smug. Instead they looked… pensive. Cautious, even. 'It was hardly a selfless action.'
'Yeah.' Chandlo leant his head back against the couch cushions. 'You two are tight.'
Floofty looked over at Snorpy, who remained oblivious to the conversation. 'I suppose we are,' they said, their expression now entirely unreadable.
. . .
Snorpy hadn't seemed interested in tooth implants, but he and Floofty worked extensively on prosthetics for his paw. They converted the spare room into a workspace and spent hours in there while Chandlo worked out.
Sometimes, when he was grabbing a drink or snack, Chandlo would glance in. They each had their own desks but often they were sitting together, shoulder to shoulder, heads together, both pairs of paws on some small electronic or mechanical thing.
Snorpy laughed more, these days. Floofty smiled, frown lines relaxed. They argued, too, petty bickering, but even then they seemed to be having fun.
. . .
Sometimes, Chandlo would see Snorpy glance at his sibling, and realised that it reminded him of how Snorpy used to glance at him.
The thought was… it ought to be off-putting, but they both seemed so happy, and when Snorpy turned from Floofty to look at him and the love was lighting up his face like the sun, Chandlo found he was happy, too. Grumpanati or not, he was tired of the world being against him and his sibling. They deserved happiness.
He loved Snorpy, with all his heart and soul. And Floofty was settling right in there beside him.
. . .
It was Snorpy who broke the silence. 'I, um,' he said, pressing his paws together, prosthetics filling the gaps that had been.
'Chandlo, you know I love you very much,' he said, nervous, shifting from foot to foot. 'But I, um, that is, I also love — not in the um, the uh, the way that might be expected—'
Floofty looked startled in a way they never did when Snorpy grabbed their paw, eyes on Chandlo.
But Chandlo just took both their paws in his. 'Bro,' he said, 'you know the land doesn't break up the sky and the sea.'