Title: Oasis
Fandom: Kirby
Rating: G for General Audiences
Pairing: One-Sided Kirby/ChuChu
Length: ~670 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Takes place mid-“Kirby’s Dream Land 3”. Also fulfills prompt #072. “desert” for 100ships.
Summary: Kirby and company take a break in their journey at Sand Canyon, and ChuChu offers Kirby some support.

“Why is it so hot...?”

Kirby whined out the complaint as they lay on the sandy ground, sprawled out and deflated, underneath the shade of Coo’s flared out wing. Everyone was in a similar exhausted state; many of them had made divots in the ground and thrown sand on themselves in an effort to cool off. Gooey had tried to as well, only to end up swallowing a gulp of sand (what with having to use his tongue), but he at least didn’t seem worse for wear.

ChuChu was especially affected by the arid air and the blistering sun—she and the heat did not have a friendly relationship with each other. She also couldn’t dust-bathe like the rest with her lack of fur and feathers. Her only respite was the teeny-tiny oasis that they had found that was mostly taken up by Kine (who was doing worse than her as a literal fish out of water), but she could at least freshen up with some splashes to the face.

After another swash of water on herself, Coo let out a weary sigh. “Kine, dear,” he called out, “do you think you’re good to go? I believe we’re nearly out of the desert.”

A huff of bubbles popped on the surface of the oasis before Kine resurfaced, his eyes lidded with resignation. “Yeah. Let’s get outta here.”

A collective groan rose through the air as many got up, shaking off as much sand and weariness as they could. ChuChu only barely made it out of the splash zone before inching her way closer to Kirby who was rolling onto their feet.

A cute pout made its way on their face as Coo perched atop their head. “Dedede better be grateful!” they yelled to the sky.

“I’m... sure he will be in his own way, honey,” Coo paltered.

“He really should be,” ChuChu added, smiling as Kirby looked at her. “You really deserve it after everything you’ve done for that sourpuss.”

“Yeah!” Kirby exclaimed with fire, only for that flame to quickly die down as their face took on a rare solemness. “...I hope he’s okay.”

“Oh, he’s the hardy sort of—oh, oh, no, Gooey!” Coo flew off toward the others, who were actively trying to convince Gooey to stop licking up more sand into his mouth. ChuChu didn’t care about that, though, as much as she did about Kirby suddenly being sad.

She scuttled closer to Kirby, placing a reassuring tentacle on their back. “I’m sure he’ll be fine; he was fine after last time, right?”

“...I guess so,” Kirby said. “But it was really scary! I don’t think he would tell anyone it, but I think he was really, really scared. So he’s probably scared out of his mind right now!”

While she couldn’t really see the king as anything but perpetually grumpy... well, how could anyone not be terrified about being possessed? She didn’t really like Dedede, but it definitely wouldn’t sit right for her to just leave him in such a state when she could help.

Besides, it would make Kirby really happy, and she loved that more than anything.

“We’ll make sure he’s alright,” she said, a determined frown to her face. “Maybe he’s scared right now, but we’ll save him! We can do it!”

Kirby’s lour perked up at least a little at her words as the others finally joined them, with Gooey bedazzled with grains of sand, Coo’s feathers puffed out and Kine already looking tired as he hopped.

“C’mon,” Kine directed the two, who listened to his words. As the two trekked, Kirby leaned toward ChuChu, and for a brief moment, she thought that they were going to kiss her on the cheek.

Instead, they whisper-yelled, “Don’t tell the others, but I also ate a lot of sand.”

She held back the face of disgust that desperately wanted to surface and instead forced a smile that Kirby at least reflected. She hoped for a kiss from Kirby one day... but maybe not at that moment.