Sickly and Hefty's Smurftastic Story

[Galaxy]

So as you may or may not have seen, I've been absent from the forum for quite a while. Computer issues; Again. x.x And even now I can't get on as often as I like. I was so, so sad without all my Microsoft documents to work on...

So I did this to pass the time. .___. Please don't hate me. Please. xD

I was going to mark this as M/M, but I think that would give people the wrong idea about it...it IS about how two Smurfs fall in love, don't get me wrong, but I assure you that there won't be an ounce of actual relationship-like actions until near the end. And even then, it's very very VERY mild. It's more like fluff and crush stuff for about 96% of it.

But I'm just putting this up because I've had it for a while; I'm going to put up the continuation to my Switched at Birth fic and SPN fic tomorrow. Pinkie promise~

I will most definitely take suggestions on this, too~

ALSO. Again. This isn't the sweet little Smurfs you grew up with. xD I know, that's a given with the prompt, but here we have jealousy, foul play, hatred, true love, and a few less than pleasant statements from Grouchy Smurf.

And now, my loves, Sickly and Hefty's Smurftastic Story~~~

Description!: Upon finding out that his entire village is bothered by his constant ailments, Sickly Smurf feels broken and alone. Until Hefty Smurf comes around, at least. Finding himself with his first true friend, Sickly is desperate to avoid ruining anything...But that can be a bit difficult with Gargamel on their case, jealous Smurfette and Vanity desperate to break them apart, and a winter that refuses to snow....

~~~~~~~~~~

The Smurfs were a people unlike any humans had ever seen before.

They were small, only three apples tall, and had skin the color the cleanest sky. A peaceful people, were they, who didn’t believe in the violence that humans relied on so. They loved one another. They lived in complete harmony.

But this story isn’t about all the tiny, tree-hugging Smurfs. Oh, no, this story is about only two of the one hundred Smurfs, two little fellows that I’m sure you will learn to love and cheer on in their budding romance.

But more about that ‘romance’ madness in a bit. For now, let’s see what our two new friends are up to where our story begins, on a lovely day in mid-October…

+++++++++++

“Eeh…Hah---HaAh!—HiihschiHOO!”

Everyone in the village knew that sound, and they knew it well. It was common around Smurf Village to hear this sneeze. It just wouldn’t be the same place without hearing it every day; Whenever a cat or dog or even a squirrel wandered about, or when winter began it’s harsh season, or when a pinch of pepper was spilled at supper. This sneeze, my friends, belonged to Sickly Smurf: Our first protagonist.

Now, all the Smurfs had their own distinct personality that was depicted in their names. For example, Grouchy Smurf was always angry about something or other. Lazy Smurf could always go for a good nap. Jokey Smurf loves the reoccurring pranks he would pull, and Brainy Smurf was the smartest in the village, and so on and so forth.

Sickly Smurf…well. He was self-explanatory.

“Ohhh, dear…” he murmured, running a gloved hand beneath his nose. While everyone else in the village thought that autumn was being fairly kind and warm this season, Sickly was always a shivering, sniffly mess, and relied on gloves, earmuffs, and a thick scarf to keep the cold at bay. The desired result was never achieved, however. “I think I’m catching another cold…”

This statement was not entirely true. Sickly wasn’t catching a cold as, you see, he always had a cold. Some days it was easier to deal with than others, but that cold hadn’t ever gone away. And that wasn’t the only thing to make Sickly Smurf…well, sickly. He had frequent headaches, fevers, heartburn, stomachaches, rheumatism, ear infections, asthma, allergies, carpal tunnel, sinus infections, whooping coughs, and he also had shaky knees, a miserable wheeze, and did I mention a simply terrible---

“Eihschihoo!”

Wait. What was I saying?

Oh, yes! All in all, Sickly was very, very ill indeed. Which explained why he hardly ever left his comfortable mushroom house unless it was an emergency. And smurf-noodle soup was a pretty big emergency in his book.

So Sickly Smurf sniffled and coughed and sneezed his way through the village, completely oblivious to the glares he was receiving from his fellow Smurfs. All the Smurfs loved one another; That was a given. But it got to be very difficult to love someone who was always ill. Especially when that Smurf was constantly contagious.

A few houses away, Greedy Smurf was busily preparing one of his fantastic cakes for dessert that night, when he glanced out the window to find Sickly Smurf headed towards his home. A feeling of dread swept through him. “Oh, smurf me!” he swore, hurrying to get all his cooking utensils hidden. Last time Sickly came into Greedy’s kitchen, Greedy---along with about two dozen of the Smurfs that ate his cooking---came down with a nasty cold. Coincidence? Greedy simply couldn’t afford to believe that it was.

Just before Sickly knocked, Greedy pulled open the door and forced a wide grin. “Well, hey, there, Sickly! What can I smurf for you?”

Sickly sniffled and smiled weakly. “Hey, Greedy,” he said as cheerily as his congested tone would allow. “I was wondering---“

“Let me guess,” Greedy interrupted, his smile becoming slightly genuine. Slightly. “You want me to fix you up some smurf-noddle soup?”

Sickly started to laugh, but it turned into a harsh cough. “You got it,” he wheezed.

Greedy frowned and glanced out the door. “I promised I’d help Vanity out with something in a few minutes, Sickly. It’s gonna have to be a bit of a wait.”

“No problem. I ca-hahhh----Hitchshioo!” he sneezed towards the floor, and Greedy felt a germaphobic shudder rip up his spine. “I can wait here.”

“No!” Greedy gasped, trying and failing to block the doorway in a subtle manor. “I-I mean, you look pretty feverish, Sickly. You should go to Papa and get some medicine! I’ll bring the soup to you!”

Sickly furrowed his brow and felt his forehead. “I don’t feel warm…But I suppose you’re right, Greedy. I do need some more medicine…”

Greedy nearly laughed out loud in relief. “Yes, yes, you do that, Sickly Smurf! And your soup will be ready as quick as I can get it!”

The ill Smurf smiled gratefully, nose crinkling with a sniffle. “Thanks, Greedy. I really appre…HiIH—“

In a moment of panic, the baker slammed the front door as quickly as possible. Just in time for it to catch two of Sickly’s large sneezes.

“Ieschshieew! Hh-Hieehshh!”

The Smurf rubbed at his constantly sore nose and blinked at the suddenly closed door. He didn’t think much of it, though, as he headed towards Papa’s house in the center of the village. He knocked politely before catching a harsh, throaty cough into the same fist as he always did. It wasn’t a moment later that Papa Smurf opened the door with his usual caring smile.

“Sickly Smurf! What can I do for you?”

But Papa knew what he could do for Sickly. This was about the third time this week that Sickly had come asking for medication. Papa had always thought that the ailments were all inside Sickly’s head. But in his head or not, they made the poor Smurf simply miserable, and of course Papa did all he could to make sure the residents of the village were happy and healthy.

“Papa, I’ve got a fever again,” Sickly Smurf said with a slight sniffle. “Is there any way I could---“

“Of course, Sickly, of course,” Papa interrupted, the smile on his face just as genuine as always. He turned away for a moment and looked in a drawer that was specifically labeled “SICKLY”. Papa Smurf was very busy, and couldn’t always make medicine whenever Sickly felt he needed it, so he had prepared emergency medicines for fever, congestion, stomach aches and an assortment of other ailments. He never told Sickly about this, though; That Smurf would be coming for medicine at all hours of the day.

Sickly Smurf sighed in relief, before a quick thought struck him: Why was he so glad that there was medication? It barely ever helped him, at any rate. And even when the medicine did work really well—which was rarer than a blue moon---the effects didn’t last long at all. This thought depressed him a bit, before that depression turned into a fear that seemed to punch him right in the gut: What if he never got relief from some ailment or another?

“Um…Sickly?”

He shook his head to free himself of the terrifying thought and gave Papa a wobbly smile. “Oh, sorry, Papa. Th-Thank you for the medicine!” And with that, he hurried off in the opposite direction.

Papa Smurf shook his head and chuckled lightly as he watched Sickly hurry away, coughing roughly into his fist with nearly every step. Maybe there was really something wrong with him. What a shame if there was; Smurfs couldn’t deny their fate, and being ill was Sickly’s.

~ ~ ~

But before he could go very far, the sound of someone saying his name made Sickly stop in his tracks. He glanced around, wondering if that ear infection of his was making him hear things, but there it was again:

“…That Sickly Smurf needs to…”

“Needs to what?” Sickly sniffled to himself, glancing around to find where the voice was coming from. He finally realized it was coming from Vanity Smurf’s open window, and he listened intently, trying desperately to silence his constant sniffles.

“…Not fair that we all have to be subjected to that,” complained Vanity in his effeminate tone. “I can’t count how many time’s he’s given me a nasty bug!”

Sickly barely managed to stifle a gasp. He...he...what?

He had never even considered that he might have been spreading his cold to the other Smurfs this whole time!

“Now, now, Vanity, you can’t know for sure…” came the voice of Handy Smurf before trailing off. “Well. I suppose he’s gotten me sick once or twice, or…You know? I can’t seem to recall how many times either.”

Sickly was sure that his face was no longer the clear shade of blue anymore, but a ripe red. How awful, how terrible of him to never even consider---

“It’s true, he is quite contagious,” said Brainy Smurf, and Sickly wondered just how many Smurfs were in there talking about him. “And I’ve told Papa Smurf multiple times, ‘Papa Smurf, that Sickly is quite frankly an epidemic waiting to happen.’ Perhaps not anything fatal, but at least something to concern ourselves with, especially when it puts the productivity of the village in jeopardy. And, I must say, all that sniffling and sneezing that he does is downright obnoxious, if you’ll smurf me for saying. But Papa Smurf says that our differences don’t matter, and that we’re supposed to love each other as we are…Of course he’s right---I mean, he is Papa Smurf---but I can’t help but disagree…Please don’t tell Papa that!”

A sharp laugh came from Vanity, one that could easily be mistaken for cruel. “It’s not our fault that it’s impossible to love that mess of a Smurf. He always sounds so pathetic, as if all that hacking and sneezing wasn’t enough.” Vanity altered his voice to sound congested and nasally at the same time. “Oh, dear, by cold has gotted worse! Where’s by hot water bottle? Dow, Papa Sburf, I really ab sick, just like I’ve beed for the past huddred years! It’s dot by fault I cad’t do a sburfing bit of work---I ab sickly, you dow.”

The Smurfs within the mushroom house immediately burst into laughter, except for one Smurf who shouted “You’re awful, Vanity!” above the uncontrollable chortles.

Do I really sound like that?, the Smurf outside the window wondered to himself as he slowly sank to the ground, his stomach aching with an emotion he couldn’t quite pinpoint. Embarrassment? Anger?

Shame?

The conversation inside Vanity’s house continued, but Sickly couldn’t bring himself to listen to any more. Did everyone really view him that way? A pitiful, sniffling mess? He had always wondered why the other Smurfs never invited him to do things, or came around just to say hello, but he always assumed that they knew he was feeling too poorly to do much of anything. But…could they have avoided being his friend because they just…just…didn’t like him? Because his constant ailment was irritating to them? Because getting sick was far too big of a risk to waste on talking to pathetic old Sickly Smurf?

He felt broken. He felt like his stomach was growing smaller and smaller by the second. And most of all, he felt how everyone viewed him as: Worthless. Feeble.

Unwanted.

At that moment, a beastly promise of a sneeze tickled the inside of his little blue nose. Sickly managed to stifle the three sneezes into his scarf. “Ihhxksh! Hh-Hmbbtch! Eeh…Ehchsxx!” The feat burned his sinuses and sent a dull ache through his head, and tears finally sprung to Sickly Smurf’s eyes, both from the painful sneezes and his aching heart. He stumbled to his feet and hurried away, his vision blurred by hot tears that rolled down his cheeks. He tried desperately to hide his distress from fellow Smurfs who were passing by, before realizing that he didn’t need to disguise his misery; Barely anyone paid him a single glance as it was.

He could have ceased to exist, and he would just be one less Smurf out of a hundred, one less annoyance to gossip about, one less cold to catch.

And no one would even care.

[Spoo]

Aha! How I've missed your smurf-ness, Galaxy. This was a fun, albeit heartbreaking read. Poor Sickly. I love the way you write and can't wait for more!

[Dye]

Awwwh, poor Sickly! </3

I love him so much ;w;

[NameTaken]

Eeeehhh that was adorable! I never thought I would fangirl and feel excited at the prospect of Smurf slash. It's wonderful.

Can't wait for more! Your spellings are also fantastic, btw.

[Mercury]

I'm not really a big fan of smurfs and I never thought I could take them seriously but my heart is breaking for poor Sickly. It’s a credit to your excellent writing, and I can’t wait for more

[SweaterWeather]

OMG you have no idea how excited I was when I saw you posted a Smurf story!!! I thought the smurfs were cute before, but you have absolutely broken the cuteness barrier. Seriously. I jus want to hug poor little sickly, I wouldn't care if I got sick or not. It's Sickly, so it's cool. My favorite part had to be his conversation with Greedy. "Oh, smurf me!" ?!?!??!!! I loved it, and im loving this so far. It's so great to read your stories love!! Keep it up!

[wannablessedbe]

so silly yet so adorable...can't believe you pulled it off! this so takes me back to my early childhood years of enjoying cartoon characters sneezing on tv. you are a gold mine, my friend. definitely continue

[purpleninja]

Aww!!! I'm not a fan of the Smurfs, but I thoroughly enjoyed this!! Is it gonna be continued??

[Cauldwell]

Awwww.......Poor sickly

Can we see more of the fic where he either a) gets treated like a smurf with feelings or wreaks a terrible revenge on vanity?

[Galaxy]

Hey everyone! Hah, I won't go spilling my whole story, I've been doing that very much today to explain myself for absense (xD) but just know that I had a very valid reason for being gone, but I still missed the place like mad. ;n; BUT I do indeed intend to keep this story going, with perhaps a chapter or two a week. It would be more, but school's starting for me soon. >< But anyway! Thank you so so much for your kind reviews, they just warm my heart and inspire me to keep this going. You have no idea how much they mean to me~

There'll probably end up being somewhere between 10 and 15 parts. But until then! Here's part 2!

~~~~~~

"Hey, Hefty!"

"Morning, Hefty Smurf!"

"Great game yesterday, Hefty, we'll have to do it again sometime!"

These sort of greetings weren't new at all to Hefty Smurf. He was loved by one and all in the village. He was far too humble to think this way, however, but the fact remained that Hefty, with his tattoo of a heart on his shoulder and positively athletic demeanor, was kind, helpful, caring and strong.

And also our second protagonist.

"So, what did Vanity say he needed help with?" the muscular Smurf asked his closest friend as they strolled through the village on that same chill October morning.

Handy Smurf laughed a bit, adjusting his hat and hurriedly catching the pencil that fell from it's treasured place behind his ear. "Ah, he got a new mirror. It's pretty big, too, so I think there'll be more Smurfs helping out."

Hefty nodded at this, biting back a remark about how Vanity had enough mirrors. That sort of thinking wasn't very smurfy at all; And Hefty was the smurfiest guy around. It wasn't his place to judge his fellow Smurfs; They were all smurfy, the way he saw it.

Handy and Hefty finally reached the mushroom home of Vanity Smurf, and the latter barely knocked once when the door flew open, revealing a smiling Vanity. The vain Smurf managed to pull his eyes away from his reflection in a handheld mirror to nod to them in welcome. "Oh, Hefty! Handy! So glad you two could come and help! Thanks so much!" He spun on his heels and went back to the kitchen table, where Brainy was already sitting with a cup of smurfberry tea.

"Why Hefty! Handy! Nice of you fellows to join us!" said Brainy in a less than cheerful manor, looking to the clock. "I believe Vanity requested we arrive at--"

"Oh, oh, it's fine, Brainy," said Vanity, looking at himself in the mirror and adjusting the flower in his hat. "We're still waiting on Greedy, anyway." He motioned to the other wall of the house, eyes still glued to himself. "There's the mirror."

Handy and Hefty glanced over and gasped when they saw the size of it. It went from floor to ceiling and took up nearly half of the wall's width. "Vanity, how did you even manage to get it in the house?" asked Handy, cocking his head and wracking his creative mind for an explanation as to how this massive mirror got in the house.

"Well, I actually---" Vanity was cut off by a knock on his door, and sighed a bit, smiling to himself in the mirror's reflection. "Could one of you boys get that?" he asked before giving the mirror a hushed compliment before giggling slightly.

Hefty couldn't help but laugh lightly at Vanity's behavior and turned to open the door, revealing a very cranky looking Greedy. "Well, hey, there, Greedy, nice to--"

"I can't get a moment's rest from him!" Greedy automatically exclaimed, and for an instant, Hefty worried that he meant him. Greedy marched in, taking a seat next to Brainy with a groan and a roll of his eyes. "He's always coming to ask for soup, ask for tea, ask for anything to make him feel better! Do I look Doctor Smurf? That Sickly Smurf needs to smurf it up and deal with it! It's only been a hundred years, after all!"

Hefty looked worriedly to Greedy, concerned about his friend's distress, before realizing what he said about Sickly and frowned. He and Sickly weren't close; In fact, they barely knew each other. In the hundred years that the Smurfs had been together, Hefty had spent maybe a total of twenty minutes speaking with him. They made eye contact all the time in village meetings, though; He hadn't any idea why this happened. But it seemed that Sickly was nice, he was caring, and he certainly couldn't have realized that he was putting someone out like that.

"Well, Greedy," started Hefty, "I'm sure he doesn't---"

"Oh, I know!" said Vanity, looking away from his mirror in the sheer passion of the statement. "All he does is sniffle and sneeze and gripe about his ailments. It's not fair that we all have to be subjected to that. I can't count how many times he's given me a nasty bug!"

Hefty shifted uncomfortably at the sound of the cruel words. Though many of the other Smurfs didn't feel this way, he genuinely liked everyone in the village. Some more than others, of course, but he knew that it would just damage him entirely if he knew that some of his friends were talking poorly about him. He opened his mouth to ask Vanity not to say anything if he couldn't be nice, but was automatically cut off by Handy.

"Now, now, Vanity, you can't know for sure," said the Smurf, and Hefty smiled in knowing that his friend thought the same way he did. Though his face fell when his friend's attitude changed. "Well. I suppose he's gotten me sick once or twice, or...You know? I can't seem to recall how many times either."

Either these Smurfs were over exaggerating, or Hefty was out of the loop. He couldn't remember a single time when he ever caught anything from Sickly. He couldn't even remember catching a cold from anyone. His healthy habits prevented him from getting sick very often, and every single one of the rare occassions was due to him training too long in the cold weather, or stumbling into a lake. No one had ever given him a bug, he didn't think.

Brainy smirked a bit at the conversation, and had to give his imput, as per usual. "It's true, he is quite contagious, and I've told Papa Smurf multiple times, 'Papa Smurf, that Sickly is quite frankly an epidemic waiting to happen.' Perhaps not anything fatal, but at least something to concern ourselves with, especially when it puts the productivity of the village in jeopardy. And, I must say, all that sniffling and sneezing that he does is downright obnoxious, if you'll smurf me for saying. But Papa Smurf says that our differences don't matter, and that we're supposed to love each other as we are;Of course he's right---I mean, he is Papa Smurf---but I can't help but disagree...Please don't tell Papa that!"

Vanity laughed at that, and for an instant, a look of genuine cruelty flashed in his eyes. "It's not our fault that it's impossible to love that mess of a Smurf. He always sounds so pathetic, as if all that hacking and sneezing wasn't enough." He smirked and changed his voice, furiously fighting back a laugh so as not to ruin the immitation. "Oh, dear, by cold has gotted worse! Where's by hot water bottle? Dow, Papa Sburf, I really ab sick, just like I've beed for the past huddred years! It's dot by fault I cad't do a sburfing bit of work---I ab sickly, you dow."

When the Smurfs around him burst into laughter at the immitation, Hefty felt his fists clench in irritation.

"You're awful, Vanity!" snickered Brainy, and this only sent Handy, Greedy and Vanity into another fit of laughter.

"It's true, you are awful!" Hefty finally snapped, and Vanity immediately sombered up while the three others around him furiously fought off more giggles. "Like Brainy said, Papa knows best, and he says we've got to love each other no matter what! How do you think Sickly Smurf would feel if he heard you talking that way about him?"

A smirk squirmed it's way to Vanity's face, and he looked from Hefty into his favorite mirror once again. "Oh, come on, Hefty, have a laugh with us. We're just smurfing around."

"I-It is true, Hefty, Sickly Smurf is...really just a..." Handy trailed off, smiling apologetically.

"A nuissance!" finished Greedy for him, shaking his head. "I swear, if he wasn't around, I would have all the time in the world to make pastries!" He licked his lips at the thought.

"And rhinovirus wouldn't spread so frequently," added Brainy, adjusting his glasses.

"And we wouldn't be bothered with those constant sniffles and coughs and sneezes and griping," said Vanity, nodding in agreement with himself. "And neither would Papa. All that Smurf does is bother Papa with his ailments!"

Hefty shook his head, biting back an angry tone. "That isn't the point. It doesn't matter what he does, we're all supposed to love each other, and it isn't his fault!"

Vanity smiled at Hefty's kind words and slowly shook his head. "Hefty, Hefty, Hefty...that's why we can't stand him in the first place. He's so pathetic!"

Hefty finally narrowed his eyes at this, and turned for the door. "I'm sorry, Vanity, but find someone else to help you."

Vanity's smile faded, and he looked to Hefty pleadingly. "No, no, please don't to, I---"

"If you're on your way home anyway," said Greedy, "Couldja pick up the soup at my house? Sickly made me make him some, and it should be cool by now. He'll bother me all day if it doesn't get to him, and I really am not in the mood to deal with him. Mind dropping it off?"

Hefty knew he should have said no, especially when Greedy was being so nasty, but he sighed and nodded, the helper in him knowing that he couldn't say no. But he left Vanity's house and slammed the door with an impressive thud, so they must have received his point with that. He felt guilty the entire walk to Greedy's house; He hadn't spoken a word of negativity against Sickly, or anyone, but he still felt like he was apart of it somehow. Once he poured the bowl of soup, he headed to the other side of the village to Sickly's cottage, wondering if he should apologize. For what, though? They hadn't directly spoken to Sickly about it, but it still felt like he had assisted in hurting Sickly by not doing more to stop it.

He knocked on the door.

There was silence.

"Sickly, you home?" called Hefty, knocking on the door once more. At this point, he heard an odd, stifled little noise...

Like a sob.

"G-Go away!" cried the Smurf inside the house, and a crease of worry automatically affected Hefty's brow.

"Sickly? You okay? Should I get Doctor or Papa?" asked Hefty, wiggling the door knob, only to find it locked.

"No! Go away, I said! Please! I-I just want---wahhh--Aihhtshihuu!" Another little sob and a hiccup came after this, as well as sniffles that Hefty could hear from outside, and a broken whisper: "Please...y-you don't care, anyway..."

This final statement send a shiver down Hefty's spine. "Sickly? Of course I care, Sickly, just open up! I brought soup from Greedy for you!"

The crying grew quiet, and Sickly Smurf slowly opened the door, his bright blue eyes read and puffy with tears. "Thank you," he croaked miserably, and took the bowl in his hand, about to close the door before Hefty placed his foot in front to block it.

"Sickly, I know we don't talk," he said, looking to him worriedly. "But just tell me what's wrong. Really, it's okay, I do care. Let me help."

Sickly Smurf watched him for a moment, still shuddering with sobs that were begging to be released, before turning and starting back into his dark home with scarves,

hankies, and medicine bottles strewn everywhere. "If you care...then you're the only one who does..." He sank onto his bed and held his face in his hands, pausing a moment before sobbing hard into them. "Wh-Wh-Why didn't anyone ever t-t-t-tell me...?"

This tugged furiously at Hefty's heart strings. He barely knew Sickly, but...This was just painful to watch. "Sickly, what's the matter?" He hesitated a moment before sitting beside him on the bed, looking to him in concern. "What happened?"

Sickly took a moment to compose himself a little before looking up to Hefty with tear-filled eyes. "I-I went by V-Vanity's house...a-a-and he and a bunch of other Smurfs w-w-w-were saying how I'm..." He stopped and shook his head, looking away from Hefty and sobbing again. "I-I-I-I'm...pa--hahh---p-pathehh...Eiihishhchoo!"

This sent a stab of panic through Hefty's heart. He heard them. He heard them and it broke him.

I warned you that talking like that was horrible!, Hefty imagined himself snapping at Vanity, and instantly felt guilty for allowing that sort of talk to go on for as long as it did.

"A-And th-th-th-the worst part is..." Sickly hiccuped, tears gushing like a waterfall. "Is...I-I-I-I know they're right. I-I-I'm weak a-a-and w-worthless and---- a-and--" He hurried in bringing two gloved hands to his face, catching three monstrous sneezes into them. "EiHHishiEEW! Ieshh'UU! H-Heeh—Heehshihuu!!" Sickly sobbed again after the sneezes and tore off his dirty gloves, tossing them to the floor. "Why can't I be useful? Wh-Why can't I h-have brains o-o-or some special t-t-t-talent or strength, l-l-like you...? " He shook his head, tears plopping into his lap. "Wh-Why am I the only one in the v-v-village who has to be m-m-miserable and useless?"

As he spoke, guilt just grew and grew in Hefty's heart, and he knew that this was all his fault. He should have said something, should have shushed them, at least. Now this poor Smurf was heartbroken. And he could have easily prevented it.

What kind of a Smurf am I? He thought miserably.

"Sickly..." Hefty started, swallowing before placing a hand on his quivering shoulder.

I need to make this right, he knew with a nod.

"You aren't useless. Whoever the Smurf is that said that just doesn't know you. All they see is what your name dictates you to be. They don't care enough to look past that and see all your good qualities, and that's their smurfing loss."

A hiccup escaped Sickly, and he looked to Hefty with narrowed, hurt eyes. "Good qualities! L-Like what?"

Hefty honestly couldn't think of a thing in that moment.

After a few moment, Sickly shook his head, looking away and sniffling. "See? There's n-nothing good about m-me--Eehishh'UU!"

"No, no, there is, Sickly!" insisted Hefty, taking him by the shoulder and turning him to face him. "I-I know there is. I just can't...think of any because we don't really know each other, or have really talked."

"And there's a reason for that!" insisted Sickly miserably, sniffling and looking into his lap. "I'm just a pathetic mess of a Smurf...I-I don't even know why I'm a part of this village...I can't do anything to help...I'm just a nuissance."

Hefty swallowed, a lump forming in his throat at Sickly's sheer gloom. "Sickly, you're not..." He reached out and took Sickly into a hug. "You're not a nuissance, Sickly. Okay? Look at me. You're fine as you are, and if other don't don't like it, then smurf them!"

Sickly immediately blushed at Hefty's hug, and swallowed, arms desperate to hug him in return. To feel some sort of comfort. "B-B-But, I can't--"

"You can!" Hefty pulled away from the hug and looked to him seriously. "Sickly. You can do anything you set your mind to. Show them that you aren't useless, that you matter to this village. They don't matter anyway if they're going to talk like that."

Sickly watched him a moment, still sniffling and shaking a bit with tears, before rubbing at his little nose and looking away. "Even if I do start doing things...No one's going to want to be near me...No one wants to get sick..."

Hefty's answer didn't take a bit of thought, a bit of consideration. "I want to be near you." He smiles strongly, giving Sickly's back a strong pat. "You're alright, Sickly. You obviously care about other Smurfs if this affects you so much. You and me? We're going to be friends. Got it?"

Sickly blinked at him for a long moment. "R...Really? Friends? B-But..." He sniffled and smiled lightly through the tears. "Do you...really want to? O-Or are you just saying that so I'll feel better?"

Hefty smiled warmly at this and took Sickly's hand to shake it. "I mean it, Sickly. I'm going to show you that you aren't worthless, you aren't feeble, you aren't anything that anyone else tells you that you are." He took Sickly into a hug and squeezed before backing up again, smiling to him. "Okay?"

The sniffling Smurf took a moment before nodding, hugging him in return. "O...Okay...Th-Thank you, but...Y-You'll tell me if you don't want to get sick or anything, right? I-If I'm bothering you?"

Hefty laughed softly at this and stood. "That's not going to happen. A cold isn't ever going to bother me." He paused, seeing Sickly's nose still sniffling, and took a clean hanky from a nearby table and offered it to him with a kind smile. "Here."

Sickly was about to take it, and blow his nose as he was accostomed to, before remembering what Vanity said and blushing deeply. "It...It's okay...I-I don't want to be gross..."

Hefty was about to insist that he wasn't, before laughing a bit. This would take time. Giving Sickly confidence again would be a difficult task. A challenge. But he was Hefty Smurf, and Hefty Smurf never ran from a challenge, especially when it was helping out a fellow Smurf.

But neither Hefty or Sickly had any idea that more than a friendship would bloom from this.

[Dye]

Awwww! <3 Poor Sickly...

[SweaterWeather]

You have no idea how flippin' ECSTATIC I am to see this new part!

"A-And th-th-th-the worst part is..." Sickly hiccuped, tears gushing like a waterfall. "Is...I-I-I-I know they're right. I-I-I'm weak a-a-and w-worthless and---- a-and--" He hurried in bringing two gloved hands to his face, catching three monstrous sneezes into them. "EiHHishiEEW! Ieshh'UU! H-Heeh—Heehshihuu!!" Sickly sobbed again after the sneezes and tore off his dirty gloves, tossing them to the floor. "Why can't I be useful? Wh-Why can't I h-have brains o-o-or some special t-t-t-talent or strength, l-l-like you...? " He shook his head, tears plopping into his lap. "Wh-Why am I the only one in the v-v-village who has to be m-m-miserable and useless?"

I almost cried! ALMOST! It took a lot for me not too, Sickly sounds absolutely miserable! :'( But I am loving Hefty right now, standing up for poor Sickly. People (smurfs, should I say XD) can be so damn cruel! I can't wait to see how those two develop as friends, they have such potential for fluff-tasticness! You are too good, you know that?