Because I'm crazy, I wrote this instead of studying for my midterms... Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Croods, or the cover image.

"Can you tell me a story?"

Eep cuddled up to Guy, smiling at him sleepily as his hand hesitantly moved to rest on her shoulder. She'd been cuddling with him a lot lately… Not that he minded. It was just odd. Guy had been alone (with Belt) for so long, physical contact was still somewhat of an adjustment for him. "Yeah," he replied softly, letting his fingertips trace shy patterns on her skin. "What do you wanna hear?"

"Something new," she grinned, looking up at him.

Eep liked new things.

"Okay," Guy began quietly. "Once upon a time, there was a… little monkey."

The cavegirl looked at him raptly, and Guy bit his lip, taking a deep breath. "And the little monkey loved his family very much. He'd spend his days travelling with his mother and father, all across the wide-open spaces. But the monkey was different than his parents. He was small and weak, and he didn't like to run. He liked to invent things."

Eep frowned as a realization came over her and she squeezed guy ever so slightly, nuzzling into him as she felt his breathing hitch. His fingers tangled in her hair. "He loved his family so much," Guy whispered. "His mom would tell the best stories and his dad… his dad was a leader. He was so brave, and so strong, and he always kept them safe."

This wasn't how he'd intended the story to go.

…But it seemed that once he'd started, Guy couldn't stop.

"A-And one day, the family of monkeys were walking across the grasslands, when they were spotted by a bear owl." Eep gasped softly, Holding Guy tightly as he continued, looking straight ahead. "And they ran and ran and ran… They lost it eventually, but-but they didn't look where they were going." He took another deep breath. "They stepped in tar."

Guy remembered like it was yesterday: the hot, oily smell of tar, the look of resignation on his parent's faces as they realized there was no getting out. His mother, who had been carrying him on her back, threw him onto solid ground, pleading with him to leave. It's not safe here, she'd said.

He hadn't wanted to go.

Guy's father had told him he needed to be strong. That he needed to live for all of them now, and be the absolute best he could be. He told Guy that he loved him. The caveboy had only heard him say that one other time in the eight summers he'd been living.

Eep looked up at her friend worriedly, fingers touching his jaw as he looked down, surprised at the contact. "My mom was strong, too," he told her. "She told me it'd be okay. When the tar was at their shoulders she begged me to leave. She told me she didn't want me to remember them like that." He looked up, shaking his head as he tried to blink back tears. "Dying. They died."

"I'm so sorry," Eep said softly, her eyes leaking.

"The last thing my parents said to me was: Don't hide. Live. Follow the sun… You'll make it to tomorrow." He squeezed his eyes shut, a droplet of water running down his cheek. It dropped on Eep's nose and she lifted a hand, wiping the moisture from both his skin and hers. "I reached out to them, and I only briefly touched their fingers… And then I left. I turned my back on my family and I kept walking."

"It wasn't your fault."

"I could have saved them."

"No, you couldn't have," Eep said gently, "Guy, you were too little. Sometimes… bad things just happen."

"I was alone for two summers before I met Belt," he told her. "Which made me ten summers old. And I had been lone since I was eight. I was eight, Eep. How did I not have an idea to save them? I saved me and Grug on our way here. How come I couldn't save them?"

"I don't know," she whispered, "but what I do know is that you're not alone. Not anymore."

Guy looked down at Eep again, heart bursting with affection and warmth and comfort as she sat up properly, fingers brushing the water from his face and the stray hair from his eyes. "You're not alone anymore," she told him softly, "And I know that we're not them, and we never will be, but you have a family right here who loves you. And you have me. I… I love you, too. A lot. And I will never let anything take you from me." He sniffled as she nudged his nose with hers, his arms automatically coming to wrap around her in a hug. "Thank you for sharing that with me," she whispered into the skin of his neck.

"Thank you for listening."

The cavegirl shrugged. "It was a sad story," she said more lightly. "But… I think that your parents would have proud to see how it continued. How good it is. And how good you are."

He felt tears spring to his eyes for an entirely different reason, and further buried himself into Eep, embarrassed and said and happy all at once. She was awesome. She was amazing. She made everything good again. She loved him.

"I love you," he said quietly. And in those three words were a myriad of other meanings: I need you. I think you're incredible. Please, don't leave me. I'd do anything for you.

"I love you, too."