Haunted Wood I am a boy of authentic self esteem

He almost took offense to being called odd but it was the soft laugh, the way that the words held no tone of insult that had him snort and give a half smile "Maybe I am" he said and resumed his pawing, finally landing on that tapped Clay on the nose and caused him to sneeze. He began to laugh his tail wagging behind him as he slid down onto his belly just as Clay asked if he wanted to be friends. A really uncomfortable tug squeezed his heart and he lifted wide eyes to the boy, ears perked with surprise "Really?" he asked softly and then cleared his throat, plastering a grin across his face "I mean yeah, of course. I've got your back, we can train to be strong together" he said trying not to show how really, truly happy he was that someone wanted to be his friend.