The roosters woke Horror awake.
He groggily cracked open an eye socket, cringing at the excessive sunshine already beating in his face. He held up an arm in vain as he groaned softly, turning over on the couch and trying to settle back in. Horror rearranged the cushions, making sure to pull the blanket over him, and was just about to fall back asleep when a choir of rooster calls forced him awake once more.

"One of these days, I swear I'm gonna kill em..." he mumbled, tossing the blanket off and finally sitting up. With a deep breath, he lifted his arms over his head, stretching himself forward and back. Afterwards, he swung his legs over the side and stood up, shoving his hands in his pockets and his feet in his slippers.

Immediately, Horror found himself in the kitchen. When he worked for Nightmare, he remembered scavenging through the castle for some food. Usually, they would have some snacks or something, but Horror preferred to sink his teeth into something more... meaty. He recalled the many people he caught and hacked up to eat, chewing on their salty flesh for some kind satisfaction that was never satisfied.

Nowadays, when he woke up, he would find a small plate next to the stove just for him. Today, it was scrambled eggs and a bit of pork (not exactly bacon, to Horror's curiosity), served with a side of cooked potatoes and a few different greens. Horror snagged a fork from a nearby drawer and quickly dug in, making sure not to leave a single bite left.

After rinsing out his dish, he swapped his slippers for some sort of outdoors boots and left the house. The crisp air hit his bones and he took a deep breath of it, holding it in his 'lungs' for a few moments before letting it free. The sun shone down on him, but it was nicer this time and blanketed him in a nice warmth.
His old life positioned him to dwell in a creepy, withered forest where, for some reason, the sun had troubke shining on. The air was a little thick and it always smelt of death whenever he went outside.
How his life had changed.

Horror trudged over in the direction of chicken squawks, making sure he got a few good glares in with some of the roosters. They were smaller than some chickens that he had seen before, but it made it easier to take care of a lot of them. Once he was past the chicken yard, he stopped in front of a moderately big vegetable garden.
A single skeleton sat there with a special mat underneath him, a bag of seeds and a small pail of tools on is right while he dug with a trowel. A large straw hat was set a top his skull, shading his eyes while he worked diligently in planting his crops.

"You seriously got to let me kill one of those dumb birds." Horror said, walking closer to the skeleton. "That red one woke me up again."
The farmer perked up and glanced over his shoulder, cracking an amused grin at Horror's obvious annoyance. "Boxer is good for crowing, you know that."

"Still wanna kill it." Horror mumbled, crouching down next to the other. The farmer chuckled. Horror looked over the wide expanse of dirt as the other continued his work, digging a shallow hole before dropping in a few seeds. After planting the seeds, he reached to another bag beside him, and, using his trowel, scooped out some mulch and putting some into the hole. Horror's attention came back to the farmer as he finished the hole by using dirt to thinly cover the whole thing. "Doesn't that ever get tiring?"

"どういう意味ですか?"

Horror gave the other a look. "Uh... isn't planting these seeds and tending to farm animals tiring?"

The farmer smiled a little a shrugged. "It keeps me busy."
"Wouldn't you rather relax?" Horror asked, poking at the dirt with his bony finger. He received a quiet head shake to his question, the farmer turning back to his work.

Horror watched the farmer once more as he dug, placed a few seeds inside, mulch, then dirt before repeating the cycle again and again. It was almost hypnotic, watching him work. "How many seeds are you going to plant?"

Now, the farmer paused in his rhythm and sat a little straighter, looking over his awaiting garden. "たくさんの, I plan to fill up half of the garden." He nodded, as if affirming this plan to himself, and quickly went back to work, falling back into his hypnotic rhythm.
This time, though, Horror didn't watch the farmer work. Instead, he stared wide-eyed at the open land, awaiting to be filled with seeds and vegetables. "All by yourself?" The shock was clearly evident with every word Horror exclaimed.

The farmer shrugged. "Probably."
The nonchalance in his tone bothered Horror. He would have took off both of his arms if Nightmare made him do yardwork over his crappy land by himself. With a sigh, he rolled up his jacket sleeves and reached over the farmer to snag a nother trowel from the tool pail and began digging beside him. The other briefly stopped once again, a small look of surprise on his face while he watched Horror, before continuing on with a small smile.

"THAT TOOK ALL DAY." Horror slumped on the couch after a nice hot shower and a hearty meal. He pushed aside his pillows and blankets for the other to sit down next to him.
"Wait until you try shovelling rocks. 私の手はまだ痛いです。"
"Why the hell would you shovel rocks?"
"Helps fill up holes in paths better than dirt sometimes." The farmer shrugged the ump-teenth time that day.
"Still doesn't make sense."

"今日私を助けてくれてありがとう"
Horror tilted his skull slightly to look at the farmer, which was now leaning on him a bit, his straw hat on the other end of the couch. "Huh?"
"Thank you." The farmer said again after some time.
Horror looked at him before nodding quietly, settling into the couch. He grabbed a few pillows for comfort, letting them cushion both of their aching bones from their day of hard work. "No problem."

He watched as the farmer began to drift slowly asleep, his skull resting against Horror's shoulder. He sighed a little, wrapping an arm around the sleepy head while tucking another underneath him, hoisting him into his arms and walking doen the hall. He stopped in front of a nice wooden door, rearjusting his grip on the farmer as he turned the knob and pushed the door open, revealing a cozy little bedroom. Quietly, Horror crept inside and laid him gently on the bed, making sure to pull down the covers before doing so, then tucking him in.

He brushed a hand over the farmer's face, mumbled a small good night and an even quieter sweet dreams, and crept out of the room to leave the other to sleep.

((Okay so

Yes

This has been a nice lil ship I've grown quickly to love but never had the time to write about. I love it and its cuteness so yeah.

Uwu hope you enjoyed!))