Room for One More Part 2

Ivy was often hard to track down as he travels around the different islands. Barry got word from a baker in town that the green flowerling had stopped by recently for his usual. If he was quick, the tamer could catch up to him before he got to the portals or disappeared into the forest. Barry could spend all day under the canopy searching for his friend if it weren’t for the biting little bug that refused to be held. It’s no wonder Amethyst was so ready to return them.

“Ow. Don’t even start.” Barry complained to the bitty biter that struggled for freedom. The hard shell flashed a bitter lime to reflect the flowerlings mood. “Honesty, how does Ivy call you Baby?”

“He is Baby though.” 

Barry gave a yelp of surprise as the very flowerling he was looking for called from above. “How long were you watching?” He shouted up from the leaf-littered floor where he clutched his heart. 

Now a bright yellow, the ladybug flew up to the frosting-covered flowerling perched on a branch. “Long enough,” Ivy nuzzled the little beetle as he watched the color fade to an almost pastel red. “What’s up with his carapace? Did he eat something of Stormflys? Are we in trouble?”

Barry quickly flew the tree before the beetle could turn yellow again. “No, no, nothing like that. The opposite really.” 

Ivy watched as the red deepened on his little bug as the tamer sat beside him on the branch. 

“I- er, Stormfly got him enchanted for me. He- we want you to move in with us.” Barry reached his hand over to pet the insect.

“W-what? I know there was a room built for me but-” Ivy tried to counter but Barry grabbed his hand.

He looked at the green and brown flowerling in his brilliant eyes that put the light through the leaves to shame. “But I want it to be your home too. You can still travel, and everything just… I like you. I love listening to all those words that make no sense but you know them all. You and Stormfly are so smart, and I’m just a big dummy who loves and hugs too much.”

Ivy forgot the bug between them as he launched himself at the blue flowerling. Crushing him and the insect in a hug, he nuzzled so hard his bunny-like ears flapped. “We talked about that. You aren’t dumb and I love your hugs.”

“I know,” Barry tried his best but Ivy only squeezed him tighter when he heard the tamer’s voice crack. “I forget.”

“Stormfly doesn’t like you being mean to yourself and neither do I.” Ivy lightly thumped their foreheads together as if to embed the thought.

“I guess I need all the reminders I can get,” Barry laughed as he rubbed his head. “Move in, so I have you to remind me.”

“Stormy is really ok with this?” Ivy pulled away slightly, as a worrying thought nagged him. He looked down at the little bug nudging for his attention between them. The shell was a bright red with small yellow spots.

“His idea.” Barry gave a hopeful smile as he tried to pull him back. “I’m a handful. You should know that by now.”

Ivy gives the tamer a playful shove that nearly knocks them both off the branch. The ladybug fluttered further along the bark as they steady themselves. Holding each other in a small fit of giggles, Barry lets the entomologist lightly thump his chest. “What did I just tell you, Mister?”

“You’re right, you’re right!” It took more effort than he cared to keep them from falling. Catching his friends' hands, Barry held them close as he thumped their heads together. “Is my memory that bad? Hurry, before I forget how to eat and I need your help with that too.”

“I really doubt you would,” Ivy rubbed their feelers together giggling. “But I don’t know. Is this really ok?”

Barry tilted Ivy’s chin up slightly tracing the little red gemstone that grew there with his thumb. Their eyes met and Barry gave a hopeful smile as he replied, “I hope so cause I don’t want to hurt either of you. I love you, and I really do love Stormy. I feel so guilty; like I’m having cake and eating it.”

“You don’t have it in you to hurt someone.” Ivy wiped at his cheek and smears what remains of his desert on the blue tamer. “Why don’t we go back into town and get something to share with Stormfly?”

“You’re right!” Barry pressed their sticky cheeks together in a crushing hug. “Super-Smart Cookie gets a cookie on me.”

“I deserve more than a cookie and you know it,” Ivy smirked as his Babybug crawled back into their lap. The bright red critter nibbled softly on his fingers as he left the tamer lean away and something wet land on his cheek. “Did you just lick me,” he squealed.

“So he can eat frosting off you but I can’t?”