Rain Check

Atma always liked the rain in Burrowgatory. He loved to jump and run under it while tasting all the different… flavors of the drops. Sometimes they tasted like grass or drops of fruit, other times it tasted more like stagnant water or weeds, but it didn’t matter to him: flavors were flavors! Leith, on the other hand, had a sort of… complicated relationship with rain.

“The gray clouds extend forever into the horizon, and the sky cries, for the sun is no more…”
“Wow, you really like the rain, Leith!”
“Rainy landscapes are natural sources of inspiration, mast- Atma. And… Well, the cool air is nice, too.”

Leith had wanted to say, “and it lets me brood with ease”, but he didn’t want to worry Atma; he only liked to brood for aesthetics, anyway, and no one needed to know the specifics. Just hearing him and watching him live like that was enough.

“I love it, too! C’mon, let’s go play! You never know what the raindrops will taste, now~ C’mon!”

Atma got up with excitement and took Leith by the hand to take him outside, but the other bun stood in place, not moving an inch.

“Excuse me?! Me, going outside to the rain?! That’s out of the question!!”

Leith said it which such passion that Atma was taken aback. The answer was firm and immediate, and Leith’s stare was dead serious.

“W-what? But I thought…”
“I’m sorry if my words deceived you in any way, but I.. I… I can’t just go out and let my fur coat be tarnished by the water from above! Also, look!”, Leith then pointed at the candles with their ongoing fire. “My beautiful fire will snuff out in an instant!”
“Oh!”

Atma hadn’t quite understood the first problem, as you can always take a bath afterwards, no problem! But the second one… Yeah, ok, THAT one was a dealbreaker. He REALLY wanted to take a walk in the rain with Leith, but now…

“You… You’re right, Leith, I hadn’t considered your fire… I got sooo excited, that I just forgot about it, I’m really sorry!”, said Atma with a worried and remorseful expression.
“Don’t worry, Atma, it’s ok. I know you’re excited, but… I can watch you from here and you can tell me all about the rain flavors this time of the year, and I can jot everything down for the gourmet quest, it’d be fun!”, said Leith, trying to cheer up the other bun.
“Yeah, I mean… That sounds ok, I guess…”

Atma, resigned, goes outside, and tries to enjoy the rain. He eats a couple of rain drops and dances around in the rain for some minutes, trying to get into the mood, but is useless. He REALLY wanted to go out with Leith. He looks back to the house and there, in the window, is Leith, who waves hello with a smile.

There must be some way to make him go outside with me… Maybe if I can find a way to protect him from the water, we could… Oh, that’s it!

Suddenly, an idea springs to his mind, and Atma goes back running to the house. He remembered Leith’s parasol, and consequently…

Of course, an umbrella! How dumb can I be?!

Yes, that was the most obvious answer, so obvious that he forgot about it in all his excitement.

He enters the house in a rush and hears Leith calling out to him.

“Oh, back so soon? I thought you wanted t- Atma? Where are you going?!”, Leith looks at the running figure of Atma with a worried expression as the other bun goes straight to their warehouse, where both keep various items in storage. Leith has a lot of books, some paintings, a couple of furniture and a collection of stationery, while Atma had… an unspecified assortment of objects.

It was this unspecified assortment of objects that Atma was after. He clearly remembered having picked up a broken umbrella, and later some umbrella parts. He thought about repairing it or something someday, but then, remembering that he REALLY liked to be in the rain, decided no tot do so, and left it there.

But now he had a reason!

He went to work as quickly as he could, and Leith, seeing how Atma spent a long time in there, went to see how he was doing.

“Atma…? Are you ok in there?”, asked the bun while opening the door and looking around for his partner.
“Yeah, totally ok, more than that… Look what I made!!”, said the other bun while holding, proudly, the fruit of his labors. It was a kinda fancy umbrella, now mostly repaired with pieces from another less fancy one.
“An umbrella? I thought you liked to get soaked in raindrops!”
“Yeah, I like it, but this isn’t for me. It’s for you!”
“For me?! B-but… I don’t know, umbrellas… usually can’t keep all the water from touching you…”
“This one can, look how big I made it!”, said Atma, opening the umbrella as much as it could open.
“Wait, don’t open umbrellas inside the house, it’s bad luck!”, yelled Leith suddenly with a panicked expression.
“Don’t worry, I eat bad luck!”, answered Atma with a confident smile while showing Leith the width of the umbrella. ”Never mind that, see how BIG Is it?? It can even cover both of us, no problem!”, explained the bun with a bright smile.

Leith looked at him for a moment, biting his lip. He saw Atma, his happy face and confidence, and saw what he had made. It was actually a really nice umbrella, maybe something he got from those rich bun houses, and looked sturdy enough. The umbrella would hold all the rain, but most of all… he knew how excited Atma was to go out in the rain with him.

“All right, you win. Will you… hold the umbrella with me, so it doesn’t go sideways or fly with the wind…?”, asked Leith with mild embarrassment.
“Sure thing, let’s go! Don’t worry, not a single drop will fall in your candles, I’ll make sure of that!”

Leith put on his rain boots and went outside with Atma, who carefully extended the umbrella over Leith’s head. Both grabbed the handle and began to walk outside, slowly.

“See? It isn’t that bad, right?”, said Atma with a smile, and Leith agreed with a doubtful expression, which soon turned into a calm one.
“Y-yeah, we’re quite protected under the umbrella you made. Thank you for this~”
“I just wanted to go out in the rain with you, that’s all! It’s soo beautiful and cool under it, don’t you think~?”, said Atma, extending a hand outside the umbrella for a couple of seconds just to absorb some water in his fur to drink. “Today the water is particularly sweet!”

Leith observed Atma enjoying the rain and smiled. He then looked around the rainy scenery and found it as beautiful as he did when inside. The sound of the rain clashing against the umbrella was lovely, and the cool spring air, mixed with the scent of rain, was full of poetic inspiration.

“Look, there’s that big tree near the house, we can go there! You’ll be even more sheltered under it, so your fire won’t extinguish~”
“Oh, that tree is lovely, let’s go!”

Both buns walked carefully towards the tree, admiring the scenery (and eating some water). When they finally arrived, Atma pinned the umbrella on the earth like in the beach, so they would still be sheltered from the rain, and sat with Leith near the trunk of the tree, where it was the driest.

Atma took Leith’s hoof with his and smiled.

“I like being here in the rain with you, appreciating nature with the person you love is the best!!”

Of course Leith knew that Atma loved him, but hearing him say so with a bright smile was as disarming as ever. He blushed and got closer to Atma, resting his head on the other bun’s shoulder.

“Yes, it’s beautiful. I want to experience such sights and atmosphere with you forever…~”, said Leith while holding tightly Atma’s hand and, resting on his shoulder, closed his eyes.

Atma watched him with a loving face and, caressing the other bun’s head softly, closed his eyes too and rested his head on top of the other.

The sound of the rain and the wind filled their senses while they enjoyed each other’s company in quiet meditation.

*grooowwrr*

“Maybe we should’ve brought a couple of snacks with us, Atma.”

“Maybe… But right now, let’s just enjoy this~”, said the other bun, and both of them kept on enjoying the rain together for a while.