A/N: The highly anticipated sequel.

"So? I never said I love you."

You collapse to your knees with shock.

The words sting because they're true. He never DID say that he loved you. But… With all that time you spent together, you thought you caught all those small gestures and moments where you KNOW he loved you- no, LOVES you. Even now, when he's looking away and avoiding your eyes, you know he still loves you.

He can't say that he doesn't love you to your face.

That's enough proof that he loves you, right?

You refuse to believe that he doesn't love you. Despite everything, your fear, your pain, your cowardice… He needs you.

You need to be filled with BRAVERY.

So you clench your fists and grit your teeth. She's going to hurt him, you know this, you know this to your very core because that's how you two met, right? She hurt him badly and so you took him in for whatever impulse you felt that day. And now, now she's going to do the same thing AGAIN, but you're not sure if you'll be able to save him again. The thought of him being used and abused like before makes you mad, angry, upset… Hateful.

You HATE her.

Tears stream down your face, but it's not out of sadness or pain or fear, but of frustration and anger, and you refuse to standby any longer.

You will FIGHT.

"How pathetic." Her words fan the flames she started, and when you lift your head up, your eyes meet with the back of her legs as she starts to leave. She will not leave here with him.

"...shut up." She turns to look at you with a sneer, and you can't see him but you think he's hiding his face because he's ashamed. He's ashamed that he lied to you and you want nothing more but to tell him that you know, you know and it's okay. You still love him all the same. Your lips form a snarl you never knew you had the venom in you to make.

"Did you say something?"

"I said, SHUT UP!" You tackle her legs, making her crash to the floor with a shriek. For a brief minute, you're worried that Brass might have been crushed by her body, but you're confident that he'll be alright. You flip her around quickly, and there he is, clenched tightly against her chest like he's the key to her freedom. He's staring in absolute shock at what you did because for once, you attacked back. To be honest, you're surprised too, but you need to shove that feeling aside for a bit because there's a skeleton who still needs you, so you straddle her waist and grab her arm, wrenching it from her chest, and you try to pry her fingers off him.

Unsurprisingly, you struggle to pull her fingers off of him. It's a miracle you actually managed to topple her in the first place, but you have to thank momentum, your weight, and the force of gravity for that. She curls forward and yells angrily, taking her free hand and yanking at your hair. It's painful and you cry out, but by now, you're starting to get used to the feeling of it so you bite down on the arm you're holding onto. You hear Brass yelling something, and then she's screaming and her arm jerks in your grasp (and mouth) and there's a soft plopping noise. Looking down, you see Brass quickly crawling onto you so you release her arm and scoop him up. Once he's safely in your grasp, you roll backwards onto your back and kick her in the face. She's gasping in pain, and you take it as your chance to scramble away from her.

You're standing with your back against the wall, and he's back with you, safely against your chest as you're panting and he's clinging onto you tightly, there's no WAY he doesn't love you. She's standing up, and despite her small frame she holds a hulking aura of danger and threats, and the glare on her face is terrifying, but you refuse to let the fear overtake you, so you match the glare with the same intensity.

She won't give up.

She'll never give up.

You know she'll keep fighting and harassing you until she gets what she wants, and you're adamantly refusing her what she wants. So you need to think quick, before she's coming closer ,and you think with disappointment that her nose is not broken, and you're thinking briefly that maybe you're weaker than you thought or that you're holding back again but the bitter thoughts don't last because she's almost in front of you so you speak up and yell:

"Wait!" And she stops. Or maybe she hesitates, but she stops advancing and you release that breath you were holding in but then you're holding it again because you're not sure what to say. She growls and moves a step forward, so you blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. "I'll pay you!"

"...what?" Her response comes out more shocked and surprised than indignant. Brass looks up at you even more confused, and you can feel yourself sinking into a thick vat of 'oh shit'.

"I… I can pay you? For his papers and stuff!" She snorts and crosses her arms.

"First of all, fuck you. Second of all, eat my shit. There's no way I'm letting you buy him off me."

"Name your price!" This quirks her interest, and a predatory smile spreads across her face. Aha, you're totally fucked. Why did you say that? You could've said anything else, and now you're pretty much BUYING Brass as if he's an object or something.

It sickens you to the core, but you can't think of anything better.

You have to keep moving forward.

"Hmmm, how about…" If she says one million dollars, you swear you're going to punch her. "One hundred thousand dollars!" That's enough for a house, you think. You wheeze. "No wait, two hundred thousand dollars!" You wheeze harder. That's enough to pay off your student loans, and you're STILL working on that.

"T-two hundred thousand?" She smirks at you and holds her hand out.

"What? Too much? Then give him back."

"No!" You clutch him closer to your chest, and he looks up at you with a hopeless stare, and it's this stare that makes you swallow hard and stand up straighter. "That's just… That's just so unreasonable! Why do you even NEED that much money? Can't you do something normal, like ten thousand or something?" She scoffs and lowers her hand.

"Fine. Since you poor fucks can't pay for my VERY reasonable price, then I'll just make you pay… one hundred thousand dollars!"

"No!"

"Ugh, you're really being a pain in the ass." She growls and looks ready to spring at you, but Brass holds a shard menacingly in the air with his magic, and she instead glares at you both. "Whatever then. Does fifty thousand sound better?"

"You didn't even put in that much money to care for me! The fuck are ya thinkin', tryin' to rip them off like that?!" Brass yells at her from your chest, and she snarls in response. It only just occurs to you that maybe she's trying to take advantage of the situation and filch some money from you. Whatever, you decide, as long as it get her out of your house and away from Brass.

"For god's- FINE! How about twenty five grand? That is my last offer or else I'm taking him back!"

"That's-"

"Okay."

"What?!" Brass looks up at you in shock, but you continue to stare at the lady with defiant eyes.

"Fine, I'll take that offer." She grins and holds out her hand in expectancy. You stare at it with confusion. "...What?"

"Pay up."

"Right now?"

"Yes."

"B-But I don't have the money for that right now!"

"Pathetic. If you can't pay, then you can't have him."

"I'll pay you in installments!"

"What?" She glares at you, and you almost cower before her but you refuse to bow down to her.

"I can pay you in small increments until you get twenty five thousand!"

"And why should I let you do that?"

"Because you're gonna get your money, even if it's in a gradual way!" You glare back at her, and you can feel Brass clinging to your shirt. It's a terrible way to get him back, but bribery may be the key to keeping her away from him.

"Hmm…" You hold your breath, and you think pleasepleasepleaseplease just accept this deal, you can't have her trying to take him back after all he's been through. "...Alright. I'll take the cash, even if you hafta give it to me in pieces." You release the breath once more just as common sense hits you.

"We need to put this down on paper."

"What?" She looks annoyed as you look around for a pen and paper. You need this down on paper before she tries to pull something. Like, claim you need to pay her 20% interest or some shit. Late fees and all that jazz. Yeah, fuck that bullshit.

"I said we need to put this all down on paper. You know, like to keep a record so that neither of us tries to do anything?" You place Brass on your shoulder and feel him holding on tight you. It's a reassuring pressure, and you open a drawer to find a notepad and a pen. This will do. You quickly write down the amount you're supposed to pay her and hand it to her to sign. She takes it and glares at you.

"What, this can't be the only thing on here."

"Uh, yes?"

"No no no, you said installments, right? Then I demand that you pay up one thousand dollars at the end of each month!" You gasp and wheeze because that's impossible with your pay, overtime or not.

"N-no! I can't manage that!" She rolls her eyes and sneers at you.

"What, are you a store clerk or something?"

"No! I'm an… office clerk?"

"Really? Shouldn't you be getting a high pay or some shit?"

"No! I've barely been working for a year, and I'm already lucky enough to be paid the amount I have-"

"I said one thousand, or he's coming back with me." She hisses in your face as Brass growls at her. You feel the blood draining from your face as you quickly nod in agreement.

"Okay! Okay! One grand per month, okay." You quickly scribble down the amount.

"And if you don't pay it all in that month, then you have to pay the remainder the month. With interest."

"You're being completely unfair with the interest bit!" She sneers at you and is about to jab a finger at your face when Brass snaps at her, teeth just barely missing her finger.

"Ooh! You little-"

"No. Interest." You are almost certain that Brass has no idea what interest is, but he's trying to help you, so that's all that matters. "Or yer gonna be missin' a finger." She growls and crosses her arms.

"Fine! You little shits." You write down the rest of the statement and quickly sign it before she says anything else, handing the pen to her to sign. She grumbles angrily and scribbles her signature before thrusting the pen at you. "I expect a copy under my door by tomorrow."

With that, she leaves your house, slamming the door behind her. You crumple to the ground, wheezing as Brass hugs your face.

"Hey, hey, you alright?" You feel his little hands gently patting your cheek, but your mind is too busy racing with calculations and plans on being incredibly frugal.

"I don't know how I'm gonna pull this off." Will your boss be willing to let you work overtime? Or maybe let you work part-time on the weekends? At least full-time for Saturday? What about bills? Food? Will you even have time for meals? "Oh god, what am I gonna-"

"Hey." He's tugging on your hair, so you look down and he's got a concerned look on his face. Oh man, who's going to take care of him when you're working overtime? He must have recognized the look of pure despair on your face because he's looking more worried by the second. "Just, just lay down for a sec, alright?" You nod slowly and slowly lay down on the floor. He crawls onto your face and lays on top of you all sprawled out, and he's petting and patting you while murmuring quietly that you'll figure something out, you'll be fine, it's okay.

It's only once you calm down that you remember how close you were to losing him.

You end up dissolving into sobs and rolling onto your side, cupping him close to your face and letting him comfort you. He thinks you're crying because of all this sudden financial stress and he's apologizing, and god it makes you cry even harder because it's NOT his fault.

So you tell him, and you're smothering him in love and affection and telling him how much you're relieved that she didn't take him, that's why you're crying, and now you're refusing to let him go so now the two of you are stuck curled up on the floor because you're too damn drained to get up. Brass clings to your hand, and the two of you fall asleep on the floor, just like that.

\=\

His human got up the next morning to quickly make a copy of the agreement and ran off to slide it under the bitch's door. Once they come back, he reminds them to eat some breakfast because neither of them had any food before passing the fuck out last night. They nod slowly and begin to make breakfast with him watching from the side. Breakfast is made slowly with deliberation, and he hears them mumbling about their job and something about overtime and calling their boss, maybe actually going to his office to talk to him? Their mumbling continues into the eating of their meal, stopping their chewing to frown and mumble to themselves around the eggs they stuffed into their mouth prior to the mumbling. He sighs and taps their hand, already finished with his breakfast while they were barely halfway done. They blink and look at him with dazed eyes.

"Hm?"

"You need to eat." He points to the food and then to their mouth. They blink again before looking confused.

"But I am?"

"You're mumbling, not eating."

"Oh." They look down at their breakfast, now cold as they continue to chew what's already in their mouth. "Sorry."

"You don't need to apologize. Just eat first, think later." They nod and continue to eat, only to get that blank look on their face as their thoughts return to square one. He grunts, and it brings them out of their thoughts long enough for them to twitch and give him a sheepish smile. Yeah, he's got to watch them eat now.

He watches them eat silently, making sure that they don't drift off in their thoughts long enough that they eventually finish their food. They scoop him up onto their shoulder and put their dirty dishes away before heading back into the living room. Once there, he feels the nervous energy that radiates from them in waves, and he notices the nervous twitch of their fingers as they pick up the fallen remote from the previous day. Shards are still littered around the vicinity, and they have to walk carefully around the broken ceramics to avoid injury. They make it to the couch and plop down, and he watches as they immediately pick up their phone and stare at it, debating on what to do.

"Hey."

"Hm?" They turn their head slightly to look at him as he nervously taps the tips of his phalanges on his leg.

"Look, if it's really that much trouble, I can just go back and-"

"No!" They quickly cover their mouth, surprising the both of them by the volume of their voice. "I-I mean… It is gonna be… It will be difficult but, we can work through this! No matter what though, I'm not letting her take you away. You… You deserve better." They mumble the last bit quietly, but he's literally sitting on their shoulder so he catches every word they say. He leans over and plants a small kiss on their cheek, resting his forehead against them as he sighs.

"Alright. Just let me know how I can help too, okay?" They nod slowly before relaxing against the couch, dropping the phone off to the side.

"...Yeah. Let's just, take today to relax and stuff. We can worry about other things later." He's about to agree when he remembers the cuts on his human's face.

"No, actually. Let me see your face."

"Huh?"

"Let me see it." They turn more to face him, and he sees the three long scratches and the deep cut from yesterday, guilt seeping into his bones. He could have prevented this, but he doesn't have the time to dwell over his protection strategies. Now he has to worry about making sure they didn't get infected. "We need to get you to the bathroom."

"What? Why?" The lights in his sockets roll around in exasperation.

"Did you forget about the cuts on your face or some shit?"

"Oh. Huh, yeah I guess I did." They give him a sheepish smile, and it's so endearing he almost forgot about how terribly incapable they were at self-care. But he doesn't, because the dried blood on their face reminds him of his inability to properly protect them.

"Come on, we need to get you cleaned up."

"But aren't they dried up already?"

"Better safe than sorry, in my opinion."

"Mmm, alright." They get up and head to the bathroom. He makes them sit down on the toilet and rest their chin on the sink counter after retrieving the first aid kit, and they huff in annoyance when he refuses to let them do anything. "Come on, it's my face."

"And you're MY human, so shut up and let me take care of you." They blink quickly, before grinning widely.

"YOUR human?" He blushes and carefully pours the disinfectant onto the cotton ball.

"Yes, my human. Now can you please let me concentrate?"

"You sure you don't need my help?"

"I got this." No he doesn't. But he's pretty damn determined to make sure that they don't lift a finger to help him, even when a little bit of the disinfectant splashes onto the counter. He quickly wipes up the spilled liquid with another cotton ball and picks up the first cotton ball, now thoroughly to the core.

They eye the ball with unease.

"Now hold still." He presses it to the first scratch he sees and starts wiping it down gently. They whine and squirm a bit, making him huff in annoyance and give them the stink eye. He continues to clean the cuts to the best of his ability, wiping the dried blood of their face and getting as much disinfectant into the cuts as he can. Once he's finished, he grabs some band aids and starts smacking them all over their face. He stands back, admiring the mess of band aids and shrugs. "All done." They get up from their seat and take a look at the mirror, clearing taken aback by the amount of band aids he slapped onto them.

"Wow that's a lot of them."

"Yup."

"...You put all the ugly ones on me!" He snickers.

"Yup."

"Why?"

"So you can stop using them on me."

They whine again, making him laugh louder.

\=\

"Brass, I'm sorry to say but we won't be having a lot of take out for now on."

"Oh, that sucks."

"You don't sound the least bit distressed! Which, is good? I guess? But I'm kinda really bummed out, honestly."

"You can only eat so much greasy food before your human body goes to waste."

"Rude. But I guess that's true too…"

"Damn right." It's the next day, and his human is busy with cleaning up the remains of the fight. He helps by carefully picking up the tiny bits that they miss, dropping the slivers into bag with the rest of the shards. They're sweeping the floor carefully, looking around for all the other spots that may contain the shrapnel. He only feels a little bad about the mess - what he really feels bad about was missing the chance to stick it to the bitch.

Heh, yeah he would have stuck something in her alright.

"Well, I guess that's it then." They dust off their hands and turn to Brass with a triumphant smile. "Now to figure out how we're going to survive for the next two years!" They look to the fridge and hum softly. "...How does spaghetti everyday sound?"

"No." He looks at them with shock. "Is that seriously all you know how to make?"

"Well, uh… Does ramen count? And cake?"

"No!" He sighs and rubs his temple. This… This may take a bit of time to sort out. "Look, how about we just go get some groceries or some shit, make a fuckton of food for however long the grub can last us, and then we should be good for a bit."

"You think it'll work out?"

"It'll have to do. Now come on, we need to get some actual food for once."

It takes a while, but once they're finally ready, they head out with Brass peeking out from their jacket's front pocket. He goes over all the recipes that he knows, thinking about what they need to buy, what they can possibly buy, and hoping that his human knows when to stop him from buying too much. A short huff of laughter escapes him, and he wonders if this is what it feels like to be a mom.

"Brass?" They look down at him curiously, wondering what that laugh was about. He shakes his head and waves them off, so they nod and continue to stare out the window. Ah, they were on the bus now. Scenery passes by them as the bus continues on, and for a bit, he's completely at peace. The bus stops just a bit before the grocery store, so his human walks for a bit before entering it. When the doors open, Brass is automatically amazed by all the food he sees.

Damn, so this is where humans get their food.

"Okay, Brass! So uh, what should we get?" They grab a shopping cart and push it towards the vegetables.

"Hmm…"

The shopping trip was… interesting, to say the least. It turns out that his human doesn't really like a lot of vegetables, which probably explains why their diet consists mainly of take out food.

"Okay, now we need some- put those BACK in the cart I am literally RIGHT HERE I swear to GOD- no, don't make that damn face with me, carrots are GOOD for humans."

They bitched and moaned a couple of times, whining about why they had to eat carrots or potatoes or something, but they still complied with his demands that they eat something with substance in it.

When they get to the meat aisle however. Oh boy. The role reversal happened almost instantly.

"No, Brass, you cannot get five packs of beef. That's just way too expensive- do NOT try sneaking that in I see that glow on the meat right there- BRASS."

They both compromised on two things of meat and continued looking for more food.

Once the food trials were over however, the rest of the trip went smoothly. With his human watching the prices and him only getting what he deemed was absolutely necessary (and getting two packs of meat was TOTALLY necessary fuck what everyone else says), they manage to not spend excessively on the groceries. Carrying them back was another obstacle he found out, as his human was amazingly weak. By the time they got to the bus stop, they were wheezing and panting.

And it was only a five-minute walk.

Like, goddamn. Granted, they did have a shittonna bags, but it couldn't be THAT heavy.

He helps them out by using his magic to support the bags a bit and making it easier on them, but by the time they make it back home, the first thing they do was drop all the bags and drape themselves upside down onto the couch, making him slip out and land awkwardly on their face.

"Oof." They both just lay like that for a bit before Brass pats them on the cheek. "We gotta put the food away." They groan in response. "Come on."

"Fffffiiiiinnnnnne." They slide upwards until they're upright and slowly, they put the food away until the fridge is surprisingly packed. "I've never seen so much food in my life."

"What about when you were a kid?" They laugh nervously. He frowns.

"Anyway, uh. Brass. So. I'm probably going to have a new work schedule." They sit down at the table and place him down on top of it. He sits in front of them and continues to frown.

"And?"

"And?" They laugh nervously. "W-Well, if things go well, then I'm gonna be working a lot more hours. Like… I'll be coming home later, like a lot? Later? Like later than usual late. Like, around the times I'd come home from the bar late. But I uh, won't be going to the bar."

"...Isn't that too much work for ya?"

"Luckily, it's just um, paperwork and stuff. And uh, we always have a lot of it, so like, at least I won't be bored. And uh, that's almost a guarantee that I'll get the extra hours. A-and! At least I'll still have the weekends off!" He shifts about on the table, feeling uncomfortable with this schedule of theirs.

"That's only two days I'll get to spend with you." Guilt flashes across their features, and they bow their head, sighing softly.

"Yeah, yeah I know."

Silence.

"...Hey um, chin-up! I'll take you out to places on the weekends, and you'll still get to see me come home not drunk!"

"I guess." They gently pick him up and plant a kiss on his skull, making him sigh and lean against them.

"I know two years is gonna be a long time for this to continue, but it'll all be worth it. I promise."

"...Yeah."

"Come on, let's go make some food. You know some recipes, right?"

\=\

The next day, they go to work. He helps them pack some lunch and says goodbye as they rush to catch the bus to their workplace. When he settles down to play some games, he finds that nothing really interests him. Candy Crush gets boring after a while, so he turns on the TV.

But even the TV gets boring.

He wanders about the house, looking here and there, exploring every nook and cranny, even taking a nap on his bed. Eventually, when he wakes up, he finds that it's still daylight outside, and that makes him groan out loud. He heads into the kitchen and eats some of the beefcake that they made the other day, expertly avoiding the meaty pieces and regretting his decision to drop slices of raw beef into the mix. Honestly, he wouldn't eat this even if he was starving.

Nothing else happens for a while. He just stares out the window, bored and lonely as all hell as he hopes to see them coming home soon. Instead, he nods off by the window, skull cushioned on top of his bony arms. The feeling of lips pressing against his skull gently wakes him up, and when he peeks up from his arms, he is greeted by the sight of his human. They smile, looking a bit tired but nonetheless worse for wear.

"Human!" He hugs and clings to their face, making them laugh and cupping him against their face.

"Jeez, Brass, you'd think I was gone forever."

"It sure as hell felt like that." He nuzzles their cheek and returns the kiss.

"You're exaggerating."

"'m not."

"Well then, I'm kinda hungry. Let's eat something."

They talk over dinner, them revealing that their boss gave them the extra hours since a good deal of people ended up quitting their job for various reasons their boss wouldn't tell them. Brass told them that he was hella bored but told them not to worry too much about it since he can handle himself.

The next morning, he sees paper and pens spread out on the table for him when the human leaves. Although he has no artistic talent, he ends up spending a majority of his time doodling and scribbling things down for his human. There are a few that he's proud of, so he sets those aside specifically so that his human can see them for sure. He stops every once in awhile to do other things, like play phone games, watch TV or YouTube, and all that jazz. It's less boring than yesterday, but he's still hella lonely. Eventually, he falls asleep by the window and when he wakes up, his human had placed him on the table, and he hears the sound of them warming up some food in the microwave.

Over dinner, he shows them all the important drawings he made, and he can see the happiness that shines through their tired eyes as they take them from him. They make a show of putting the drawings he's proud of on the fridge, and he puffs his chest up in pride. When they ask if he was bored however, he just shrugs and says that he made do.

A few toys are placed on the table inconspicuously next to a fresh stack of paper the next day. They're old and a bit beaten, but he finds a way to enjoy them anyways.

For the next days or so, he finds something new on the table. An old Gameboy. Stencils. A couple of comic books that he needs to prop up and read from a distance. It never ceases to amaze him how they manage to find something for him to entertain himself with, even if some of these things were old and dusty and sort of chewed up. When they don't have some new toy or gizmo for him to use, they give him little treats. Sometimes it's a bit of chocolate, other times it's some candy they purchased on break just for him. One time it was a gumball, and it took him a few good days to properly finish it off. His jaws were really tired after that.

The days he looks forward to the most are the weekends however. It's those days where he gets to go out with them just to take a walk or to visit nearby stores. They never buy anything or eat out, but he enjoys enjoying nature with them. When it's raining, they stay indoors and have movie marathons or clean the house. In the end though, it always ends the same. They go to bed, only to smother him with affection before leaving him

It was Sunday night when they were helping him into bed. He always hates these days the most, because it means the end of spending time with them, and more time by himself. They press their lips to his skull and give him a quick nuzzle.

"Night, Brass. Love you." Just when they were about pull away from him, he grabs their hair quickly.

"Wait."

"Hm?" They look at him in confusion, wondering what it is he could want. He blushes and looks away from them, taking a deep breath before looking back up to give them a shy smile.

"I uh, I love ya too." They blink once, twice, before their face practically beams with their smile. He returns the smile, albeit an awkward one, and feels proud of himself for finally telling them his feelings.