It's all fun and games till someone loses their freaking mind
...
"Come on, Saboten." My voice quavered in restrained concern. "Open the door." I spoke as evenly as I could manage through the solid barrier before me. "This isn't funny anymore."
And...it really wasn't.
Though I stayed calm and collected, in reality I was terrified. Because in the span of an hour and twenty three minutes, I had gone from 'house guest' to 'hostage negotiator.' And I had no idea how that had even happened. One minute we had been talking, relatively calmly might I add, to each other. Then the next... The next, he had just left me. And I knew he had been angry when he left. He had made that clear when he slammed the door.
What made it worse, was that he had taken the bottle of hard liquor with him into the dark, dank, unholy recesses of his bedroom. Now I found myself trying to coax the man out of his bat cave because I was beginning to worry about his safety...as well as my own. And I swear! It was like trying to talk down a foul mouthed, belligerent, very large, very angry, potentially violent and now possibly drunk...two year old.
Impossible.
It was...impossible.
He...was being impossible.
And it was all so stupid because I didn't even know what I had done. Nothing! I hadn't done a thing! He was being so cruel and unfair, because I hadn't done anything to deserve this anger from him. The screaming and yelling at me through his door...when he knew full well I was worried about him. The profanity he hurled at me, not to mention the bottle that had followed. Shattered against his side of the door, thrown to make me back down. Make me back away. And the names... The terrible names. Some I understood. Some I knew I didn't want to, they were probably that awful. Honestly, sometimes my man was more hormonal than a raging teenage girl riding the crimson wave. And the worst part was that...if I actually knew what I had said or done to make him so angry...I would have swallowed my pride a while ago and apologized if it would have meant him leaving his room.
"Please..." I murmured through the silence that met me now. "...just come out..." My voice lilted softly through the door in hopes of luring him out.
...it hadn't worked...
So I decided to change tactics. Meet silence with kindness. He was clearly upset or hurt about something... So maybe if I got personal with him, he would start talking to me. Come out, maybe... So placing my hand along the door, bracing myself to rest my forehead along its unforgiving surface, I got as close to him as he would allow through this barrier he had risen between us. Working to make my voice as soft and calm as I could, I felt that maybe now wasn't really the time to be meeting his infantile petulance with my own normally immature and abrasive snarkiness. This clearly wasn't working for either of us at this point, so maybe if I were softer and dialed it down just a notch, it might just comfort him enough to use his words. Tell me what was wrong.
"...Aden..." I whispered his name...the first time I had ever spoke it to him since knowing him...
WHAM!
The sudden, terrifying sound of something violently slammed against the door right where my face had been resting caused me to startle back in fear as the door trembled in response. And the lack of ricochet to the floor or the sound of the unidentifiable projectile becoming damaged led me to believe that this time he had actually used his own fist to punish the door. Right about where my voice had given my face away on the other side.
And I was left in the wake of the horrifying unknown of what might have happened had the door not been in between us to absorb the blow...
...would he have really hit me...?
I had never been afraid. Not of him, anyway. Never. Not even once. Until right now. I suddenly felt as if I was on a ship...and baby...we were going down. And I didn't know what to do. Through this whole ordeal I had even tried to contact Saboten's roommate, seeing if maybe the man could talk some sense into him. Talk him down. But Cactus Man would have to have his phone password protected. And I wasn't about to ask him what it was.
I may not have been all that bright...but I knew that I wanted to live.
But before I even had a chance to recover from my adrenaline laced fear, a harsh, deep scream of foreign profanity immediately and almost simultaneously followed the man's assault to the door.
"Piz`da, po'shyol 'na hui!"
Tears began to brim along my lashes, and I was completely helpless to stop them. So many different emotions flooded me. All at once. And I was helpless against them. I was helpless... And scared. Really scared. Immobilized by my fear, staring at that door and the terrifying danger that lurked just beyond it, I tried my best to stifle my emotions long enough to formulate a coherent thought. A plan. I just needed to breath...and think.
And then it hit me like a flash. An intense, electric bolt of lighting. The skit of an American stand-up comedian. Haru had made me watch it, and I had nearly peed myself laughing. Though, in my defense, I'd already had two energy drinks prior to him sitting me down in front of his computer. But the man's hysterical monologue about being held hostage by a stark raving lunatic inside of an elevator suddenly gave me an idea of sorts. Though my current situation wasn't exactly the same scenario, nor was it at all in the least bit funny, I had to admit that the general premise and concept of the comedian's performance seemed to apply.
...and this is where my harebrained plan came into effect...
'Okay... If I act more upset than him...that'll kind of defuse the whole situation...'
It was just crazy enough to possibly work. Maybe. I hoped. And really...I had nothing to lose.
Arming myself with the comedian's words of wisdom, I figured that all I really had to do was present myself as only 'slightly' more crazy than the terrorist barricaded in his room. I could do this. Because if there was one thing I happened to excel at, it was making a complete and utter spectacle of myself.
'Okay Kurumi...you got this, girl.' I gave myself a mental pep talk. 'Here goes nothing.' A fragile, shuddered breath moved through my trembling body in order to steady myself. 'Game face.' With this, I set my expression into an angered scowl as I closed the small gap between myself and the bedroom door, slamming it with the open palm of my hand hard enough to cause it to shake infinitesimally from its hinges.
In order to end this dangerous standoff, I needed to hit back.
And I needed to hit back hard...right where it hurt him most.
"That's it!" I screamed at the door, loud enough that I'm sure the whole apartment complex could hear me...though I was pretty certain they had already noticed Saboten's rampage by now. "You want to act this way?!" My voice came a terrifying shriek as I drew deep from reserves of strength I didn't even know I had.
...or maybe that was just my infinite supply of stupidity that was coming through to help me now...
"Well two can play this game!" I wailed to the door in challenge before making a show of stomping off to the kitchen.
Quickly rummaging through the man's fridge with trembling fingers, I went about arming myself for the ensuing battle. My heart pounded in my chest so fast and furiously that I could barely hear anything at all through its feverish and erratic beat. As I made my way back to the bedroom door, I found that I had to bolster myself all over again. I needed this to work. I needed him out of the bedroom where he was doing who knew what to himself, leaving me utterly alone. Another breath to steady myself and strengthen my resolve, I heard the weaker prayer of a whispered thought in the silence just before the storm.
'...I really hope this works...'
"If you don't come out, right now..!" I bellowed loudly through the door to my audience on the other side. "I swear!" This threat came hot and searing through my snarled lips. "I'm going to drink all of your vodka!" I screamed, clutching one of the many bottles that had been in the mans fridge. "And I'm going to smoke all of your pot!" These threats continued to pour from my mouth with all of the rage I could muster. "You will have no vodka! And no pot!" This unsavory consequence settled itself along the strained moment as I gave a fleeting pause for the man to consider this outcome. "And then I'll eat all of your food and throw it all back up!" I threw out this disgusting detail, like hurling the kitchen sink, because I had used absolutely everything else...and had nothing left to threaten him with.
And then...I prayed.
I prayed that this would actually work.
I prayed that Saboten would leave the confines of his room so that I could make sure that he was okay.
I prayed that he wouldn't call me on my bluff and actually make me follow through on my threat...
Because...the thought of ingesting hard liquor and going on a pot induced food binge that would inevitably end in uncontrollable vomiting didn't appeal to me.
Putting the lip of the bottle to my own, I took a hard swallow to make good on my threat against Saboten's drink of choice. Though, if I was truly honest with myself, it was probably just as much to bolster my waning courage as anything else. I reveled in the rush of warmth and the softening of my anxiety before the swift jerk of the bedroom door startled me out of my slightly inebriated stupor. And I instinctively cringed away, staggering back as Saboten quickly stalked forward after me through the threshold of the bedroom into the hallway to corner me against the opposing wall.
My back came pressed against the unforgiving surface behind me as he loomed menacingly over me. Caged in place as he braced himself with his hands against the wall on either side of me, leaning himself in, I tried so hard not to cower in fear of him. But I found that I couldn't even force myself to look at him, choosing instead to focus on the death grip I had on the vodka bottle in my hand. The sound of his breathing mixing and mingling with my own as he drew closer. His smell as its heady aroma infiltrated and overwhelmed my senses. The warmth of his breath along my cheek as I heard his voice manifest in a lowly whispered hiss of restrained rage.
"...give it to me..."
I felt the sudden, embarrassing rush of heat to my face in response to this highly suggestive...more than slightly naughty...demand. One I knew that had a completely different meaning than how it sounded. But that didn't stop my breath from coming in shallow gasps. And I hated how my own flesh betrayed me now. Hated how it had so shamefully given me away in my simultaneous fear and longing of him. How was it that he could be so intoxicatingly arousing while scaring the holy living crap out of me?
...it wasn't fair...
"...give me the bottle..." I heard him hiss this demand in my ear again in a rush of hot breath as I squeezed my eyes shut, turning my face away as I bit my lip to keep from smiling out of fear.
"Mm-mn." I shook my head, holding fast to the bottle. "Apologize first." My voice came in a soft whimper.
He owed me that much.
"Give me...the vodka." His voice grew a little deeper, his words slow and dangerously creeping through my mind. "Now." This came closer to a feral growl than a verbal demand.
And again, I shook my head in defiance. Unwilling to bend and cave, I didn't want to reward him for his poor behavior.
"No." I murmured, finally risking a glance as my kaleidoscope gaze flitted up through my lashes to meet smoldering chocolate eyes that seemed to grow darker as they bordered on black. "Say you're sorry." These words came firm and unwavering as I stared bravely at the man before me, holding his dark brooding gaze in a silent standoff.
"Give me the bottle!" This came aggressively snarled in my ear from his lips as his fist pounded the wall near my head.
And it was all I could do to keep my legs from liquefying and completely giving out on me. But a small part of me knew that if he had really meant to hurt me, the man could have easily done it by now. He was larger and significantly stronger than I was. If he really wanted to overpower and harm me I wouldn't have been able to do anything to stop him. To protect myself. But everything he was doing...had been doing...was merely a grand show. A bluff. Posturing aggression in order to force me to back down and give him what he wanted. Right now, he was simply bullying me. But...I had no doubt that if he were pushed any further he would act out violently to get his point across.
The silent weight of warm breath in my ear. The sound of my heart pounding in my head. The intensity of his body heat as it poured and radiated off his bare flesh. The unsteady footing my legs claimed as they fought to keep me from sliding to the floor beneath me. The slow passage of time as it seemed to crawl along in sheer agony like a mortally wounded animal.
All of this was violently washed away with the solid, deafening knock at the door as I flinched in a startle reflex.
Like a bubble being burst, our heated argument and all of tension that had followed seemed to crumble away with the swift jerk of my head to this sudden intrusion. Without skipping a beat, Saboten utilized this distraction to his advantage as the vodka bottle was easily plucked for my fingers. Before I even had a change to tighten my grip the bottle was gone as he stalked his lean, muscular, nude figure over into the living room. And I couldn't believe that he had gotten away with the prize without having apologized for the way he had treated me. My mouth gaped open for a moment towards this revelation before puffing my cheeks in agitation as I let loose with a disgruntled breath.
"Hey!" I squeaked angrily, scowling at the back of his head. "No fair!" I quickly followed behind him, secretly grateful that he hadn't retreated back into his room with the bottle.
Another thunderous knock of announcement at the door sent me into slight panic as I began to realize that our little dispute had probably drawn the type of attention neither one of us had been looking for tonight. But my anxiety swiftly shifted to bemused irritation as I watched Saboten slump himself down on the couch as his free hand claimed his phone, the other grasping the bottle. Raising the poison to his thin...perfect lips.
And yet another knock thundered through the now otherwise peaceful apartment.
"Aren't you going to get that?" My scowl deepened as Saboten spared me a glance that told me he wasn't planning on doing anything of the sort, having made himself perfectly comfortable on the sofa. "Fine..." I grumbled, stalking my petite frame to the door as he turned his attention back to the phone in his hand. "By all means, then..." My voice came irked and laced in bitter sarcasm. "...don't trouble yourself and get up. Let me get that for you." Another knock heralded the persistent presence on the other side. "I've done everything else around here... No big deal." I hurled this last complaint over my shoulder, though I had to admit that...given the current situation...it was probably best that I answered the door anyway.
Dramatically flinging the door open at having been put upon and disturbed, disgruntled words left my mouth without having even registered who was waiting on the other side.
"What do you want?!" I almost snarled before the rest of my words were swallowed in a deeply embarrassed squeak. "...officer...?"
...oh boy...
"Miss..." The police officer at the door murmured lowly, his authoritative tone washing away my snarky theatrics. "We were called for a report of domestic disturbance." His voice was calm and measured as his gaze slowly drifted past me into the apartment...and directly into the living room where Saboten had reclined himself. "Is...everything okay?"
And my kaleidoscope gaze slowly followed the police officer's pointed stare as we both looked upon the man in question. But Saboten played it super cool, or didn't even realize that we were gawking, as he continued to slouch back along the sofa, phone firmly grasped in his palm as the arm of his free hand came draped along the back of the couch. And his pale milky crème thighs came crossed at the knee, covering his shame as I once again felt that insane ache for his body. A need that relentlessly screamed at me as I bared witness to his naked profile, wanting him all over again in the absolute dirtiest way possible.
But the obtrusive noise of the police officer clearing his throat caused my gaze to snap back to the situation at hand as my cheeks once again burned with awful embarrassment. And I began to wonder exactly how bad this situation really looked...
Pretty bad, I guessed...judging by the look on the officer's face as he stared at me.
"...Miss...?" His gaze narrowed on me seriously, expressing concern that he didn't want to verbalize in front of the oblivious man on the couch.
"We're doing just great, officer." I spread a fake, cheesy grin along my lips with the delivery of this lie. "Right, baby?" I called out to Saboten, risking a glance over my shoulder to see if he was glaring at me for this. "Wave to the nice officer..." I coaxed sardonically through my strained smile, watching as Saboten just barely lifted his free hand from the back of the sofa in order to waggle his black-tipped fingers in silent greeting to the man at his door...without so much as even a glance in our direction.
I had to admit that the man had made an art-form of the 'here but not here' persona.
"Hm." Was the only dubious grunt of a response to my answer before the officer's gaze drifted back to the naked man inside of the apartment. "Aden..." I came almost floored as the policeman addressed Saboten by name.
"Officer Davison..." Came this murmured acknowledgment from my saboten.
What the hell?! How often did these guys get the cops called on them, anyway?!
"Haven't we warned you about adhering to the noise ordinance in this complex before?" The officer asked, his tone calm and professional in the face this outlandish scene before him.
"Yep." Saboten drawled in a slow deadpanned from his place on the couch.
"Gabe here?" The officer asked, only furthering my bemusement as my man gave a small shake of the head, continuing to stare at his phone.
"...nope..." Came another one word response drawled from his thin lips. "...out of town..."
"Visiting Desireé?" The policeman questioned casually with an air of familiarity, earning a small nod of concession from the strangely cooperative and respectful little cactus as I stood in awe of the benign normalcy of this scene unfolding before my very eyes.
"Mmhm." Saboten murmured lightly.
"Am I going to have any more trouble from you if I leave now?" The officer asked pointedly, and a small pause of silence filled the space as Saboten seemed to give this question genuine and honest consideration, still staring into his phone.
"No." This came breathed through his lips and the infinitesimal shake of his head. "Too damn tired." And I watched the officer give an almost kindly smile of amusement to this.
"Well..." The officer sighed with the lateness of the hour and lack of a present crisis. "...since things seem to be okay here, I'm not going to give you a citation for Domestic Disturbance." The man murmured calmly before taking out the intimidating looking pad from his pocket as he grasped a pen with his free fingers. "But I am going to have to ticket you for Disturbing The Peace." And I visibly cringed with the sound of the piece of paper separating from the pad as the officer handed me the fine with a light smile.
"Sorry to have bothered you, Miss." The officer addressed me again cordially with a polite nod. "You two..." He gave a brief pause, eyeing me as the amused smile tugged just a little further along his lips. "...have a nice evening." And I flushed red all over again in embarrassment, puffing my cheeks.
"Okay. Bye bye, then." I spat, following this with the swift closing of the door, almost right in the officer's face had he not quickly backed out of the threshold.
Leaning against the door for support, I let out a shaky breath. If the events of this night were actually a regular and frequent occurrence, I really had no idea how Saboten was even alive. The lack of structure and seemingly endless supply of drugs and alcohol I could live with. But the constant roller coaster of my emotions had left me completely dazed, exhausted, and weak beyond belief.
...or maybe that was just the pot and alcohol talking...
Pushing my frame from the door's support, I slowly made my way to where Saboten was before the quiet call of his voice drew me from my emotionally drained stupor.
"Hey..." My kaleidoscope gaze lifted from the ground as my eyes met his.
And for a moment, it seemed like he actually saw me. For the first time since being here, he was actually seeing me...and not just looking at me with disregard or worse yet, disdain. And the whole of his intense chocolate gaze caused a helpless shudder to ravage my body.
I began to wonder a few things as he was gazing at me that way. It felt as if he wanted to tell me something. This home had been lacking in so many words left unsaid. Maybe...he wanted to tell me something important, because I couldn't imagine him speaking for the sake of hearing his own voice.
Maybe tonight would be the night...
Maybe that rich chocolate gaze was finally expressing that he was ready to give something I had wanted from him since the night I had first laid my eyes on him. Maybe tonight would be the night where he was willing to let down his walls and let me in. To remove this impenetrable barrier between us.
...would tonight finally be 'the night'...?
I found it simply astounding that, with as many men as I had been with, underneath Saboten's smoldering gaze I felt a little nervous. Tingly. And just a bit excited. Drifting myself a little closer to him as my stomach began to do dizzying somersaults, I approached with a level of cautious trepidation.
"...yeah...?" My voice quavered along a breathless whisper as I unintentionally licked my lips with the flutter of my lashes.
"I need you to do something for me..." His tone came sultry through that dark gaze of his as he graced me with the unusual sight of his complete attention. "...like...right now..." The urgency of this statement was intensified with the slight furrow of his brow.
"...yeah..?" I almost moaned, hating myself for how he made me feel inside as my breath came in short gasps.
"Go find out what's left in the grocery bag."
And I swear...my jaw hit the freaking floor.
"What...?" I shuddered idiotically, my head now reeling from the roller coaster I'd just been thrown on.
Again.
"Get me something from the bag." He deadpanned a little more seriously, as if I was making this into a bigger deal than it needed to be.
"Why don't you get it yourself?!" I spat angrily, scowling petulantly at him after all he had just put me through.
"Just go look in the bag." He growled towards my non-compliance as I gave an exasperated huff.
Spinning on the balls of my feet, armed with my directive and a healthy dose of 'screw you' mentality, I headed towards the kitchen with the blatantly snarky slap of my own ass to express my overjoyed thrill at being order around like his personal wench. Honestly...the man didn't need a roommate. Or a girlfriend, even, for that matter. What the man was in dire need of was a freaking nanny. And apparently tonight I fit the bill to play the part.
Stepping into the kitchen, an expression of mild disgust shaped my features at the scene that greeted me. The man's kitchen was absolutely filthy. I gave myself over to an exasperated sigh before raising my voice only just loud enough so I knew that he would be able to hear me as I avoided drawing any more attention this evening.
"I find your lack of cleanliness disturbing." I grumbled from over my shoulder.
"If my mess bothers you that much, then by all means..." I heard him murmur darkly. "...go ahead and fuckin' clean it up." He quipped just as sardonically, causing a petulant snort towards his overt and crude form of sassing me.
"Whatever..." I retorted in a low grumble, finally making my way to the bag as I gave it a brief once over before calling over my shoulder.
"All we have left is candy." I responded, almost professionally as I gave a tally of what spoils were left in the goody bag...only to finally register the look of disdain thrown in my direction.
"Is that all you bought?" I heard him question accusingly from the living room as I gave a small nod, causing the irritated, almost baffled furrow of his brow to deepen.
"How old are you?" He spat as I scowled right back at him.
"What?!" I huffed from the kitchen, as if he had any right to judge my level of maturity. "You told me to go shopping!"
"Yeah." Saboten gave a straight-faced deadpan with the quirk of his brow through those electric blue bangs. "I meant for food." He quipped, that sour expression still lingering along his palled features.
"You don't like what I got you? Then get your pasty white butt off that couch and go shop for yourself next time." I snapped, grabbing a piece of candy from the bag, popping it in my mouth to stave off crueler words with its sugary sweetness. "Some sun and vitamin D might actually do you some good, Vampire Boy." I retorted through the piece of candy in my mouth. "And it wouldn't hurt you to get out around other people." A snide smirk laced my lips along the sugar in my mouth and myriad of thoughts running through my mind. "But that would actually require you being able to play nice with the other children."
"Fuck the other children." This pithy comeback caused a small snort of amusement to push through my button nose as I gazed into the bag once more.
...like I said... The man held an unshakable contempt for pretty much everyone.
"So what do you want, Cactus Man?" I asked, rummaging through the bag in order to fill his request.
"Just bring the whole bag here." I heard him murmur calmly, gazing at him over my shoulder as he beckoned me over with the wave of his hand from where he sat.
As I sauntered back into the living room where he was I began to wonder if he was really this lazy, or if this was just an amusing display of extreme co-dependence. Placing the bag between us as I took a seat next to him, I watched him finally place down his phone only to notice that all this time...he had been playing Candy Crush. If only Grandma-Judge-A lot could have seen this now. She would have been rolling in her grave if she weren't still among the living.
Honestly, would the man ever cease to surprise and amaze me with his confounding behavior?
"So..." I murmured lightly through the comfortable silence as Saboten rummaged through the bag. "What's with you and the cop?" My voice came a little baffled. "I thought you were all about making a big stink and sticking it to the man."
"Officer Davison?" Saboten questioned as his fingers finally wrapped themselves around a lolly pop, and I gave a silent nod to his clarification as he responded in kind with a voiceless shrug. "Nate's alright." He murmured quietly as thin fingers slowly unwrapped the piece of candy. "Been more than a few times where he should have just thrown my ass in jail, but he didn't." His voice lulled in the strange calm of this moment as I listened intently...more than interested in baring witness to this side of the normally secretive man. "He just sat and talked with me. Made me feel like a normal human being." The man whispered softly with something akin to respect in his voice as he finally thrust the lolly pop between his lips into his mouth. "Besides." He muttered almost comically through the lolly pop between his thin lips. "The only time he seems interested in my money or my autograph is when he tickets my ass."
This came as a harsh reminder of who my saboten really was. Having spent so much time with him the past three days, it was difficult to see him as a celebrity. Though really, he was far closer to an anti-celebrity, because he rarely if ever made a point of drawing attention to his fame. In fact...it seemed like most of the time he was actively avoiding it all together.
Having been able to see him as he really was...who I knew him to be...it was difficult for me to imagine him as the performer on stage. The voice behind the music I loved and held so dearly to my heart. The mind behind the words that rushed through my damaged soul and breathed life to my broken heart. It was hard to view him like that seeing him now, because I was irrevocably in love with the man behind the music. And...to be honest...I was beginning to grow a little fond of the broken, damaged, angry, cruel little boy sitting next to me, completely naked. But if I were to meld these two people together I sensed it would ruin the perfect illusion I had in my mind. And I feared that if this were to happen...the hero of my adolescence would die.
So...sitting next to me was just some guy I had met in a club. Just some guy I pursued off hand after that fateful evening. Just some guy that I knew I was probably better off not knowing at all.
Feeling the need to find some separation from the growing chaos of these thoughts, I carefully crawled my way across Saboten's lap. Though I was careful to mind my manners as I reached over for the bottle of vodka he had claimed back without the apology I had demanded in return. Taking the bottle for myself as I delicately straddled Saboten's legs in a way that made it clear I was planning on behaving, I gazed at him through my lashes as the bottle met my lips in a kiss that I desperately wished was with him instead. Sitting on his thighs, having partaken of his favorite poison right in front of him, I offered him a tender smile.
"You know..." I murmured lightly to him, gazing into the depths of his dark smoldering eyes. "You're a really crappy boyfriend." I whispered as he gave a small snort to this fact.
"Tell me something I don't know." He muttered out, his head drooping infinitesimally in what almost seemed like dejection.
"You're really beautiful." I whispered before lightly pecking him on the cheek, handing over the bottle that was rightfully his to begin with.
And to my astonishment, I watched as the man's high cheekbones flushed a shade of pink to my off hand complement to him. And it made me just a bit sad that my complement might have truly been something not many had told him about himself.
"Is this your way of trying to get into my pants?" He grumbled in a show of deflection away from my complement, still avoiding my gaze as the lolly pop lazily dangled from his lips.
"Well..." I voice came in a soft lilt. "...I might be trying to get into your pants..." I bit my lip as I tried not to giggle at how adorable I found him in this moment. "If you were actually wearing any." And I watched in amusement as his chocolate gaze slowly drifted to his unclad lap, giving himself over to a sigh as his expression shifted in slight perplexity.
"Hm." This came as a small puff of befuddlement to his current predicament. "Did you take them off?" He questioned in an apathetic mumble through his lolly pop. "Or did I?" And I openly giggled at his baffled confusion.
"You did." This declaration came murmured with a smile, sincerity ringing in my tone indicating that he could trust my words and the fact that I had not yet violated his 'no sex' rule. "A while ago, actually." I stated truthfully. "They're over there." I indicated to where he had dropped them as proof of my honesty and trustworthiness.
And with a wayward glance to the abandoned blue jeans and a small grunt of acceptance of the validity of my statement the man mulled over his nakedness as the space fell into another lull of peaceful quiet.
A moment of peace that I hoped to take with me when I finally left this place in a few days time.
The End
A/N: Okay, lots of stuff to go over in this chapter.
Firstly, thank you all for the reviews and support...and for waiting so patiently for this last chapter. There's a reason to the delay, I promise. you see...Aden happened to find out what I was doing and read the last chapter. Then he found chapter three and took it away from me, I swear. I had to start all over from scratch. It was like a dog eating my homework. Only it wasn't a dog. And it wasn't homework.
The American Comedian referenced in this chapter is Dane Cook, taken from his stand up "Elevator" skit. Super hilarious. I suggest you youtube it.
The comment "Your lack of cleanliness disturbs me" was graciously loaned to me from Kurumi's creator MoonlitAtMidnight. Thank you for your constant support and inspiration, and allowing me the honor of writing for your character Kurumi again.
Thank you again to SweetLiars for your reviews and enthusiastic support of my writing of this story. And thank you for your unending love and affection for Gabe. Though he doesn't get out to play much, I appreciate how much you love his unsung character.
And Aden's crude/vulgar expression of how he feels about playing with the other children...well...Fandom Angst...that one was for you. In memory of my real life experience. You can thank me later.
Lastly, but not least in importance, is a possible public service announcement. I in no way want to glorify nor do I approve of domestic violence and abuse... And make no mistake,,,what Aden was doing was abusive. It is inexcusable. There are no excuses...but there are reasons. And I thank you all for your continued support of my Aden baby.
