Rumble's Choices

“Rumble?” Button Mash sat up slightly, causing the pegasus to remove his head from the brown furred chest.

Rumble’s throat was tight. His chest hurt, and his guts felt cramped.

“Will you stay?” Button asked, his voice quiet and sad.

“I—“ Rumble closed his eyes and shook his head. He turned away from the earth pony. “It’s just my brother needs me to pay my part of the rent, right?” He probably didn’t, of course, with his new salary. The lie hurt.

“Rumble, please don’t,” Button Mash pleaded.

“I can’t,” he managed to say.

A hoof touched Rumble’s shoulder. “Please. Stay with me. I think I lo-“

“DON’T.” Rumble said forcefully. He ripped his body away from the touch. “It’s only been a few days, dude. Don’t make this harder by saying that shit.” He shook his head and looked towards the bedroom door. He couldn’t bear to look at Button. “I like you. I like this. A lot.”

“Then stay.”

Rumble finally looked back at his friend. His maybe-stallionfriend. The earth pony was crying. Ugh, Rumble hated watching ponies cry. He was tearing up too. “Look, let’s just make the best of the next few days.”

“And then what?”

“Then I’ll see you if I visit Ponyville?”

Button Mash shook his head harshly. “No way. Not just then. It’s just a long train ride, right? We could do, like, weekends together?”

Rumble shook his head. “I don’t have the bits to make that trip all the time. And I doubt you do either, even with your nice job.”

“So this is it?” The earth pony grimaced. “You’re breaking up with me?”

“No!” Rumble said. “Well, sort of, I guess?”

“Fuck your ‘sort of.’”

“Fuck you too, dude!” Rumble yelled. “Like this is easy on me, either?” He flapped his wings and hovered in the air. “I don’t want to leave!”

“Then don’t. Sweet Celestia, why is that so hard?”

“Because I have a new job and a new chance to prove myself.”

“Fuck your job, too,” the earth pony swore.

“Because my brother’s all the family I have!” Rumble tried to push down the storm of sadness and anger that always came with that thought. But unlike a normal thundercloud, this storm always got the better of him. “Because I can’t leave him for some hot stallion I’ve been fucking!”

Button Mash blinked and his face softened.

The tears were loose now, falling freely from Rumble’s eyes. “Fuck this, dude. I don’t want to hurt you or anypony else. This fucking sucks.”

The earth pony stood slowly and walked over. He put a hoof on Rumble’s face and the pegasus flinched away. The hoof moved down to a shoulder and gently pulled downward. “I’m sorry,” the earth pony said. It was just two stupid words. Words that ponies used all the time without meaning anything. But here, while Rumble was hurt and confused and angry, they meant the world. He let his wings relax and he landed on the ground. Button pulled him into a tight hug. Rumble hugged back with his wings.

They lingered in that moment.

“I’m sorry for pushing it,” Button Mash whispered.

“I’m sorry I can’t stay,” Rumble replied quietly.

The earth pony kissed Rumble’s ear softly. “And I know you don’t want me to say the word,” he said, “so I won’t.” He kissed his cheek lightly. “But I want you to know how much I enjoy spending time with you.”

Rumble shuddered. “Me too,” he said pitifully.

“Come on,” Button said, gently coaxing the pegasus forward. “Let’s get cleaned up. Again,” he said, a hint of amusement cutting through the melancholy.

Rumble found his hooves lethargic as he dried himself off after a long, hot bath. “I should probably head back,” he said.

“You sure you don’t want to stay the night?”

Rumble sighed. “Nah, dude. I’m exhausted. I think I’ve just been through a lot, mentally, and I’ve still got to start packing. Thunderlane’ll kill me if I leave it to the last minute.” He tossed the towel onto the counter and stretched his wings. They ached too. That was weird, he hadn’t even flown that much that day. “You should come over tomorrow, though. I’ll make stir fry or something.”

“Finally!” the earth pony said with a small laugh.

Rumble stepped forward and kissed Button Mash on the cheek. “I’ll see you then?”

The earth pony put a still-damp hoof to Rumble’s cheek. “You know it.”

They embraced, the hug quickly turning into a kiss. The kiss lingered and made Rumble wish for the millionth time he could stay.

The late afternoon air was pleasant, and warmer than Rumble expected it to be. He winged off toward home. He felt a tickle in his lungs. Somepony must have been using a wood furnace—that lingering smoke always made him cough.

Light, it was bad today. He kept coughing all the way back to the apartment. When he landed, his knees nearly gave out.

Oh no. No, no, no. He was not getting sick. He threw a forehoof to his head and winced at the heat radiating from his skull.

Rumble managed to make it to his bed before collapsing into a groaning puddle of pegasus limbs. He ached everywhere.

He heard his bedroom door swing open. “You okay, Rumble?” Rumble whimpered into his pillow, the sound quickly changed into a violent coughing fit. “Whoa,” Thunderlane said, stopping near the bed. “I’ll make you some tea. Get some rest, and stay the buck away from me—I can’t afford to get sick with the move.” A hoof tapped Rumble’s backside gently in what was probably supposed to be a supportive gesture.

Rumble heard Thunderlane walk off. He heard the whistling of the tea pot a few minutes later, and he heard his brother set a cup of tea on the bedside table. He shivered miserably under the blankets.

Rumble slept terribly. He would wake up long enough to cough violently and drink a small sip of the herbal tea before passing back out. He eventually woke up, still groggy and in pain, when he heard somepony knocking on the front door. Rumble stood, and immediately regretted it. His legs wobbled, his wings shifted uneasily, and his head throbbed. He walked slowly to the door.

As he pulled the door open he was hit with a sudden, wracking cough.

“Whoa, bro,” the visitor said warily. “You look terrible.”

Fuck. Button. Some corner of his mind laughed in delirium: yes, fuck Button, good idea. Rumble sighed, which only brought on a fresh round of coughing, which nearly caused him to double over.

The earth pony stepped forward and helped Rumble back upright. “Okay, which way to your bed?” he asked.

“No foreplay?” Rumble asked, his voice scratchy. He leaned into Button’s supportive shoulder. He waved a wing towards his bedroom door. “That one,” he said before another violent cough shook him.

Button led him back to his bed, where Rumble collapsed gratefully. He lay in bed looking up at the brown pony.

“So, I guess we’re not hanging out today?”

Rumble shook his head. He tried to clear his throat. It didn’t seem to do much. “I’ve gotta pack up all this crap, and I can barely stand up, so,” he broke off, coughing again, “that’s gonna take all day.”

The earth pony frowned. “You can’t be out of bed looking like that,”

Rumble rolled his eyes. Ugh, that hurt too. “Got to.”

“No,” the earth pony said sternly. “You’ve got to stay in bed and rest. I can pack for you. If you’ll let me,” he amended sheepishly.

Rumble sighed. And then nodded. And then coughed violently. He pointed a hoof into the living room where flattened boxes stood in one corner. “Thanks, dude.”

The earth pony leaned over and kissed him between the eyes. “At least I get to see you this way.”
Rumble’s stomach suddenly joined in the bodily rebellion. He didn’t think that was related to the cold, though.

“This one?” Button Mash held aloft a small, stuffed plush Wonderbolts insignia.

“Donate,” Rumble croaked. The earth pony tossed the old piece of memorabilia into a large box marked with an X.

“Hey, Rumble, I’m back,” came a voice from the living room. “How are you—Oh!” Thunderlane popped his head into the bedroom and paused. “Hey there!”

Button stood up from the pile of things on the ground and offered his hoof. “You must be Thunderlane. I’m Button Mash. I’m Rumble’s, uh,” he paused for the smallest moment and Rumble’s breath caught in his throat. “Friend.” Rumble double over coughing.

Thunderlane gave his brother a quick look of concern before turning back to the earth pony. “Must be some friend. You couldn’t pay me to pack up somepony else’s stuff!”

Button shrugged easily.

“Okay,” Thunderlane said, “I’ll be finishing up with my room and then I’ll move on to the living room. You guys let me know if you need anything.”

Rumble’s eyes were heavy. He could close his eyes for a minute, surely. That would probably be—

“Found your porn stash.”

Rumble coughed himself awake. “wh-?” he managed.

“I mean, I can appreciate vulva in heat as much as the next colt, but damn, you could diversify a little, bro.”

Rumble buried his face in his pillow.

“You taking this with you for lonely nights?”

“You can toss it,” Rumble croaked.

Button Mash grinned wickedly. “Looks like you’ve tossed something plenty, bro,” he peeled two pages apart. “You don’t want to donate to some horny colt or filly-fooler in need?”

Rumble groaned. “Don’t be gross, dude, just toss it.” He coughed to clear out his lungs. “I can’t believe you’re messing with my porn,” he muttered.

“I mean, I’d rather mess with your cock directly instead of the thing that sometimes excites it, but since that’s out of the question…”

Rumble felt his loins stir. “Shhhh,” he warned. The thought of messing around was enticing, but his insides already quivered with weakness, and having an orgasm might just wipe him out completely.

Button tossed the rumpled magazine into the trash bin and quickly buried it under a few discarded tissues. “Well, since you’re awake, let’s keep sorting,” he said.

Button Mash was scarily efficient at sorting out Rumble’s stuff. When Rumble said as much, the earth pony laughed.

“Me and Mom had to move a bunch when I was younger. I got really good at boxing up stuff and only keeping the essentials.” He shrugged. “Glad that skill is being put to good use, I guess,” he said morosely.

Rumble fought off a cough and laid a hoof on the earth pony’s shoulder.

Button turned and looked at the hoof. His gaze traced the limb back to the pegasus. The two stallions sat quietly for a moment. “I’m gonna miss you, Rumble.”

Rumble felt tears burn his eyes and the suppresed cough overtook him. “Miss you too,” he managed. He saw Button wipe a hoof across his eyes. Rumble closed his eyes. He hurt too much all over—chest, and head, and now heart—to deal with the thought of Button hurting, too.

He let another violent fit of coughing overtake him, almost thankful for the distraction.

“Hey,” he said once the cough cleared, his voice rough, “I think I can manage from here.” He leaned forward and kissed Button’s cheek. “Thank you. For everything.”

Button flinched as if he’d been slapped. The tears that had been collecting now poured free.

“Promise me you’ll come back the first chance you get,” the earth pony pleaded. “I’ll pay for the train ticket and everything. Just…” he wiped a hoof across his eyes. “Please?”

Rumble couldn’t look at the other stallion. He kept his hoof on him, though. “Yeah,” he said quietly, “of course.”

Button stood up and put his head on top of Rumble’s. He pulled back and planted a long, firm kiss on the pegasus’ forehead. Rumble shuddered. From the cold, he told himself. “Bye,” Rumble croaked.

“No,” Button said, his voice resolute but forlorn. He stroked a hoof down the side of Rumble’s face. “No goodbyes. Just… see you soon.”

Rumble nodded, fighting back tears. The brown stallion turned slowly and walked out of Rumble’s bedroom.