#<- Not reallly stated outright but there definitely is some implied romantic attraction

[queer-acacia-archive]

Secret Santa for @mete0rm0ss

Finally, I'm posting my secret Santa project. I meant to put this out a lot earlier, but at least now it's done.

Characters: JoeHills and ZombieCleo

Words: 747

Tags: slight existentialism

Cleo was finishing cleaning out one of the rooms of the castle when she saw Joe pass by the castle wall. He looked like he was counting something in his hand- most likely a few diamonds he’d found. She jumped down from the window and glided to the ground, landing squarely in front of Joe’s path.

“Howdy, Joe!”

Joe looked up and smiled. “Howdy Cleo, whatcha been up to?”

“Not too much, just cleaning up some stuff from the castle.”

“Oh, speaking of which… do you know what we’re supposed to be doing with these emeralds?” Joe asked, holding out the small green jewels in his hand.

“Dunno,” Cleo said with a shrug. “I don’t think Ren had a plan for what would happen if the monarchy fell.”

“Hm. Maybe someone needs some emerald blocks for a build, or for villager trading?”

“We can go look around and find out,” Cleo suggested. “If we don’t we can always throw them in some lava.”

Joe chuckled as he stuffed the emeralds in his pocket. “Sure, sounds fun!” He began to take out his elytra, but Cleo stopped him.

“Uh, think we can walk this time? We don’t have to be that fast or anything.”

Joe raised his eyebrow for a moment but nodded as he put the elytra away. “Fine with me,” he said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Dunno how far away the next base is, but we’ll find our way, I’m sure.”

Cleo chuckled as she headed out into the forest, motioning for Joe to follow her. “Well, don’t leave me hanging now!”

Joe chuckled and jogged after her, not wanting to fall behind. With Cleo being undead, she pretty much had endless stamina, so falling behind meant bad news for him.

The two of them walked in silence for what felt like at least twenty minutes. Every so often, Joe picked a stray flower on their path, and he slowly began to weave them together.

“Joe, can I ask you something?” Cleo said, interrupting their silence and making Joe jump a little. He took a second to compose himself before responding.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Do you feel like we’re being… watched?”

“I mean, it depends on what you mean by ‘being watched’,” Joe replied, his tone as calm as ever. “If you mean watched by all the zombies and creepers around, then yeah, it's pretty normal to me at this point-”

“No, that’s… that’s not what I mean,” Cleo interrupted, knowing if she didn’t that Joe would keep rambling. “I mean by��� something else. I don’t… I don’t know by what but it creeps me out.”

Joe shrugged as he stepped onto a fallen tree, walking along the length of the log with his arms out to keep balance. The mass of woven flowers was gripped in his hand. “Huh. Well, I always just kind of figured it was a fact of life. The sky is blue, the grass is green, and we’re watched by a higher power.”

“I dunno how you’re able to accept it so easily,” Cleo muttered as she swiped a tree branch out of her path. If she thought about it for too long, that would creep her out more, so she decided to ignore the feeling.

“I mean, what does it change? Someone is watching us build castles and reforage the earth? We still have the will to go do and say what we want to.”

Cleo pressed her lips together and made a dissatisfied sound. Joe looked at her, then hopped down from the log. He plucked one more flower from the ground and wove it into the other flowers. Oh, it was a flower crown. A little messy, but still a flower crown nonetheless.

“Well, I do know for certain, that even if we’re being watched, I’d still be your friend.” He gingerly placed the flower crown on Cleo’s head. “I think that’s all we need to know is real, don’t you think?”

Cleo tilted her head up a bit, trying to get a proper look at the flowers... and it slid off her head and fell onto the ground, quickly becoming a small pile of flowers and leaves. The two of them stared at each other for a second and burst into laughter as they picked up the crown’s remains.

“Thanks, Joe,” Cleo said, taking one of the flowers from Joe’s hand and tucking it behind her ear. “I’ll be sure to remember that.”