Embrace (Patreon)

Monty doesn't know how Penny knows when he's down. It's not from lack of acting skills, Monty can fake a smile with the best of them, but Penny always sees right through it within seconds. He's an evil genius after all, his power of perception is unrivaled, at least when it comes to Monty in a blue mood. He never gives Monty the chance to lie with tedious questions like “Are you all right?” or “What's wrong?” Penny skips the preamble and hugs Monty, tightly and all embracing as snakes do, a full-bodied squeeze of immense strength. Monty imagines it's a suffocating feeling for anyone else, but as a snake himself, it's exactly what he needs.It doesn't matter how big and tough Monty is when he's wrapped up in Penny's willowy arms. Penny never asks, but with every gentle stroke of Monty's hair, he turns so soft and weak and appallingly young that he spills more than he ever has during torture. The things weighing on his mind are easier to share when it's spoken into Penny's chest instead of his face, and whatever comes out of his mouth, Penny never stops holding him. “Thank you for sharing that with me,” Penny says after Monty runs out of words (and perhaps tears), like it's a blessing to hear about his woes, like it wasn’t a shameful thing to show him Monty’s heavy and bitter heart. It makes Monty blush every time. The urge to scoff to escape the aching sincerity is a struggle he loses more often than he likes. Penny, bless him, takes his jokes with grace, but he doesn't hesitate to point out that it's a poor defense mechanism even as he's laughing. Monty secretly agrees as he has no defense against Penny, not his hugs or his smiles or his laughter or his warmth or the smell of his hair. Monty has no defense at all. ----did a redraw of an old sketch as a warm-up and then had to color it Monty belongs to @AxelGear11