“Hey, Groff…” Cream muttered. “Can you… hug me? It’s a weird question to ask, but…” 

Groff hugged them before they even could find more words to say, knocking them down to the ground.

“T-Thanks!” They purred softly. “Saw something scary, that’s all…”

“I’m just glad to spend time with you.” Groff purred.

The stars shined above them as a moment passed.

“... I love you. You’re the best.” Cream curled up even closer, and Groff could feel the vibrations of their purring alongside the vibrations of his own.

“I love you too.” Groff pressed his paws into Cream’s back, gently kneading them like bread.

Cream relaxed into the hug, their breathing slowing as their eyes closed and they nodded off to sleep. Groff closed his eyes and joined them.

“The sunsets here are beautiful, aren’t they?” Groff asked, his tail curled around Reese as the duo gazed upon the vibrant oranges and reds of the sky.

“Thanks for taking me.” Reese purred and turned to nuzzle Groff.

Groff nuzzled back. “No problem.”

Reese nuzzled again.

Groff nuzzled yet again.

Soon, it devolved into the duo smashing their heads together, trying to outnuzzle the other.

“Are you two… fighting?” Someone asked, causing the duo to pause.

“No?” Groff cocked his head.

“Fighting looks like this.” Reese smirked, and tackled Groff, knocking him to the ground.

Groff grabbed her by the shoulders and moved to flip the two of them over without hesitation, quickly pinning Reese to the ground instead, and gave her two quick smacks to the face with his paw. Reese retaliated with a kick to the stomach, causing Groff to flinch and lose his grip, allowing her to wiggle free.

“Nice one!” Groff beamed. “But I’ll do you one better!”

He jumped to tackle Reese as she was rolling back to her feet- and accidentally knocked the two of them off of a cliff.

He yelped. She hugged him tight.

They landed in a pond.

(The way the water felt in his lungs felt… familiar? A dull memory…)

Groff moved to place Reese on his back, and pushed himself with all his might to swim.

(... For some reason, he felt the water… helping him?)

“Thought we were far enough from the cliff.” Reese said. “I’ve been playing with Strawberry too much.” He chuckled. “I’ll have to remember Cream’s not the only one who sometimes knocks their friends off of things.”

“I’m glad you’re ok.” Groff said.

Luckily, land wasn’t too far ahead, and Reese stepped down from Groff’s back as Groff let out a sigh of relief.

“Let’s take a nap here…” Groff laid down. “That battle was a bit too exciting for something involving my clowdermates…”

Reese laid down beside him, purring. “That’s true.” She closed her eyes to enter the world of sleep, and Groff followed her close behind.

Groff was currently in his home universe, doing parkour in broad daylight and thinking to himself.

‘Obviously trained for this for a while’? What’s that supposed to mean? He thought as he hopped from Nora’s windowsill to a trashcan. Why did they think I was some sort of… expert adventurer or something? He hopped from the trashcan to a pile of boxes. I guess I do do things that others would consider ‘practice’, but it’s just for fun! It’s not like I’m aiming to be better at fighting monsters when I play with my friends… That’s not who I am…

He moved to jump, but suddenly slipped, the shock snapping him out of his thoughts. He instinctively moved to right himself and land on his feet, but-

“NYAAAAAAAAAA!”

Strawberry’s ears perked, and he ran from Nora’s bed and jumped out of her window at the sound. “Groff?”

Groff was… floating? A few inches off the ground, yes, but… he was floating!

“Nothing’s wrong, Strawberry!” He stammered. “Just… got surprised… Chip’s the one with air powers, not me, so why am I-”

“Nothing’s wrong?” Strawberry asked. “Ah, so I can go back to sleep then.” He then proceeded to fall asleep on the spot- and on Groff, causing him to fall to the ground.

Groff sighed. Maybe he needed a nap, too.

(And so, Groff followed his clowdermate into the land of sleep…)