Home Is Where the Rents Due

Again (ft Shiloh)- Timmies

A blanket was on top of him. That was the first thing he noticed when his blurry vision began to clear. Something in the air smelled unpleasant, it made him cough then it hit him that something was burning. Without hesitation, he jumped to his feet a bit wobbly.

"Good Morning sleepyhead!" Jasper stood in the kitchen with an apron around her neck in front of the stove.

Shadow looked around. "Were back in my old apartment." He stated with confusion in his voice. It was no mistaking he was back in the last place he wanted to be. What has it been? Probably close to a year since he had been back here. The last time he had seen this place was before him and Jasper had left to Korea. That just felt like yesterday with the way his mind was feeling, scrambled.

He looked back to the kitchen at Jasper. The large gem was humming some song he couldn't quite make out, the way she hummed sounded like the equivalent of someone dragging their nails across a board. You have to be someone of great skill to be bad at humming.

After a few more seconds of breathing in that god awful smell, Shadow started to really lose it. "What the fuck is that god awful smell?" He cursed.

Jasper looked at the masterpiece she was whipping up in the skillet. "I think its eggs. I decided to cook you breakfast when I woke up."

"Jasper…" Shadow had to pause to calm himself down. "I haven't been here for almost a year. You don't suppose that anything that has been in that fridge is probably growing some sort of third arm do you?"

Jasper had to think before she answered. "I mean I was hungry too but-"

"THROW THEM AWAY!" Shadow screamed in annoyance.

It took ten minutes for Jasper to get rid of that fungus she was whipping up in the kitchen and another to get the stench out the air. Now the two were in the living room. Shadow leaning against the wall brooding, Jasper on the couch trying to not get annoyed at his attitude.

Shadow spoke first. "So we fused…" he was trying to figure out what to say next. "We-" Shadow paused when he thought of what happened. "Fury killed those two knights like they were bugs. It felt-"

"Good?" Jasper interrupted.

Shadow hissed. "No. It didn't feel good! Feeling good is finally taking a shit after holding it for an hour. Turning gems into dust isn't one of them."

Now the giant gem was angry. She stood to her feet pointing at him. "Fusions are the mixtures of us Shadow. If you think Fury saving us by taking out those two knights were all me then you're wrong."

He knew that already. When they fused and Fury had taken over the wheel he could feel everything that she was doing. A part of him was exhilarated by it, another side wanted to puke. He knew he probably shouldn't have felt that way, especially since they were going to kill the hell out of him. It was the way Fury toyed with them that made him tremble with regret. If he knew that when they fused they would create something like that he would have just found another way. There wasn't one but…

"Shadow when we fused we created something powerful. Fury made some sort of portal and got us home. Isn't that what you wanted?" Jasper lowered her voice.

Shadow sighed. "Home?" He looked around at his prison for four years. "Some of the worst years of my life have been in this place. So why did Fury send us back here instead of the beach city? With Steven and the rest of the Crystal gems?"

Jasper went quite. It wouldn't be much of a surprise if she said she didn't want to go back but… when they fused she could feel what Shadow had felt. When they were together a spot in the back of his mind was murky. A black veil that she couldn't get past. Jasper could tell he was trying to hide something. Whatever it was must have hurt him to the point where he couldn't use his powers.

He was too tired to argue with her at the moment. Shadow turned to the door to his old room. To anybody else, it seemed inviting. To him, it was a dark pit he hoped he wouldn't have had to stay in again. "I'm tired, Jasper. If you don't need anything then I'm going to sleep."

"But," she moved around the table towards him. "We missed Christmas already. It's about to be a new year Shadow." Her voice had a warmth tone to it he wasn't expecting.

"I don't know what you thought was going to happen but I'm not going out. I have a headache for days and it's like ten o'clock." Shadow turned again to enter his room when her hand clamped down on his wrist.

Jaspers' eyes darted up and down "Don't leave me out here all alone Shadow. It's cold."

He ripped his arm away from her. "Get a blanket." Shadow slammed the door in her face. Just as he expected when he walked in. A crippling darkness awaited him. The kicking bag he would hit to keep up his skills hung in silence. It had been so long that he used it that the dust glowed from the starlight that came in through the blinds. Bed, unmade, just as he left it. A silhouette of when Jasper and he slept in the comforts of each other's arms deformed the mattress. Mostly her side, which was half of the bed. Shadow didn't really care for the memory of what he and Jasper use to hold though, he cared about someone he had loved long ago.

Shadow knelt down on the side of his bed and pulled it out. A box containing some of his best memories with Erica Iris Killjoy. His ex-fiance would have thought him weird keeping mementos like this. She never really cared for sentimental objects unless he was the one giving it to her. The old picture frame of her and him after a martial arts tournament made him remember why he didn't like coming back.

He could feel pain slowly seeping into his heart. It wasn't as bad as it used to be but still, pain is pain. Shadow let his hand graze over her face. He felt bad that it had missed seeing her. Every year on her death date he would go to see her with fresh flowers and some sort of story to tell. This year he wasn't on Earth so she might just forgive him.

"Hey Erica," Shadow whispered softly. "So I probably know what you're thinking right now. Oh, you baby look at your face! You trying to be a pirate? All that martial arts training and you get your but kicked." Shadow chuckled when he was mocking her. She would have said it better than he did. In a more serious tone he talked.

"I'm sorry that I missed seeing you. I know that your not the one for excuses but get this, I was on another planet totally kicking some alien butt-" Shadow went on and on about his new friends. Steven, Connie, the gems. Him getting his powers to him ending up on homeworld. He left out the gruesome bits but if Erica was alive she would be able to tell his bullshit before he had a chance to lie.

He cringed at his last night in Beach City. "So," Shadow tried to brace himself for the words about to come out of his mouth. "I killed another man Erica." The sucker punch to his gut hit him hard. When he said it the face of Chads terrified face sprang to thought. "I killed this man Erica. He was trying to rape Pearl and I killed him." It wasn't so simple as that though, he was lying to himself. "I tortured him. I ripped his arms off like a child playing with a spider. The worst part is I think I enjoyed it Erica. I can't even blame Jasper for what Fury did because I know it was all me."

Jasper sat criss-cross in the middle of the living room trying to think of anything else but him. Since she woke up in the living room of this place she thought of nothing but Shadow and how things might be better. That was quickly shattered when he slammed the door in her face. Jasper got sick of doing nothing and moved to his door. It took an hour to muster up the courage to even get off her butt. She was just inches away from the door. When she lifted her hand to rap on his lightly Jasper heard his voice. She got a better listen when she put an ear to the door.

"I know why Fury sent us back here. It was because I wanted her to. I forced her to send us back, I don't know how but I did when we were fighting for control." His voice broke. "Despite what she did to me I still want to make things work Erica," Shadow chuckled. "You always told me I was a masochist."

Jasper knocked on the door. Before Shadow could say anything she stepped in, at least she knocked first. She watched as Shadow scrambled to put the frame back in the box and back under the bed. The resulted in him sliding off face first into the floor.

"Ummm are you okay?"

Shadow put a hand up as if to silence her. "Yeah, I'm just fine. Might of broke my nose but it would probably go along with my one eye." Funny how his tone had no sense of humor to it when he said that. Though he didn't sound irritated either. Jasper stood at the head of his bed. Watching him as he put the box of mementos under the bed.

"You know I honestly think you look ten times cooler with just one eye." Jasper couldn't help but smirk at him. "I think it really builds character."

Shadow actually laughed at that. A genuine one nothing fake. His hand brushed over the eye patch. "Momma told me I could be anything. I guess missing an eye checks off being a pirate, she really was pushing for a lawyer though."

Now Jasper was laughing. "You are the funniest half gem half man I've ever met Isaac Shadow." She couldn't help but give him a toothy grin.

When they were both done laughing the two were silent. Being back here things seemed like what they used to be. Minus a few missing bits.

"You know I remember the first night that I met you. Bag of ice on my head cause some punk busted me with a pipe. Then you go and try to kill me."

Jasper smirked again. "You hit me in the face with frying pans."

"Oh wow. Invincible cheeto puff versus the wee little hooman, I wonder who would win." He said, voice dripping with obvious sarcasm.

The gem got so comfortable that she sat down on the bed next to him. Jasper didn't look at him, instead, she kept her eyes on the punching bag. "I wouldn't admit this to anyone but you might just be able to beat me now. Those powers you have are no joke. I heard from other gems that you escaped with just your fists until you reached the diamonds. Did you really really try to take them on?"

"Yeah," he remembered getting his butt kicked up and down that hall. "I doubt I would have beaten them. I'm just surprised I made it past blue diamonds Pearl. The damn gem smashed my head into the wall." Shadow laid back down on the bed. When he half rolled into her waist cause how much weight she was putting on the bed.

Jasper looked down at him. "Thank you, Shadow."

He rolled over with his arms rested under his head. "For what weirdo?" He asked with a tired husky voice. Not so much tired as suppressing an inner desire that had been starting to rise with every second she was with him. Every time he was close to her he had this innate yearning that couldn't be settled with just her sitting here.

"On the day that you died I asked you if we could just restart our lives together. Now we're here and it may not be what you want-" Jasper stopped talking when Shadow put a hand over his mouth. The look in his eyes was furious.

"I know exactly what I said," He stood up from the bed to in front of the wall. "You already know what I want to say Jasper don't you?"

She didn't say anything.

Shadow punched the wall in frustration then turned around and dropped to his knees in front of her. When he grabbed her by the hands she flinched. "Jasper!" Shadow had to pause to calm the tidal wave of emotions hitting him all at once. "I want to forgive. I can forgive. It's sick, its so fucking sick that I know if I just push past this anger I have for you then I would love you like I did before."

"Then just do it," Jasper gripped him by the shirt roughly. She was sick of holding back for him.

Shadow knew right then and there that it didn't matter how hard he tried to hate Jasper that he couldn't free himself from her. No matter how much of a monster he was becoming or how many limbs she took from him or eyes she took Shadow was addicted to this gem. He really was messed up.

Shadow gripped her hair and forced her lips to his. A bomb that rivaled all other bombs went off in her mouth when he forced his tongue into her mouth. Jasper couldn't even moan with the way he was being so aggressive. They had kissed a few times before but this was different. Jasper could feel her body heat up, she thought she was going to explode. Shadow parted his lips just for a moment before he moved down to her neck, nipping and biting every bit of her skin till he came back up to playfully bite her ear. That got a cute chuckle out of her that made the gems cheeks burn red with embarrassment.

Jasper pulled onto his shirt. A moan escaped her lips when he bit a part of her neck that filled her with ecstasy. She pushed back with equal vigor though. With a simple yank, she tore his shirt off of him and threw it aside. His chest and abs were bare for her to see, to do with what she wanted. Her hands cupped his face, danced down the straps of his eye patch down his chest to his pants.

"Off." She commanded in her usual demanding tone.

Now Shadow was the one blushing. When he didn't move fast enough Jasper grabbed him by the wrists and forced him over on his back. It didn't take much to pin his arms over his head to force him into submission. With her other hand, she reached down to his pants.

Shadow bit his lip when her hand danced over his crotch. "Stop teasing me asshole." He groaned between his lips.

Jasper really outdid herself when she changed into nothing. No clothes no anything, she was naked.

"What do you do next from here?" She asked. Still, her hand gripped his wrists so that he couldn't escape. Jasper wanted to be the dominant one not him if she let him touch her the way he did again she swore she would lose her mind to the lust.

That was all Shadow needed to have the strength to get things under his control. Shadow bucked his hips upwards off balancing her then wrapped his legs around her waist. With sheer strength alone he was able to flip her over and get on top. Through his urges he was able to finally get a thought or two together.

"Are you sure you want this Jasper?"

The question confused the gem. She wanted him to shut up and give her something she's had before but she was grateful that he asked. "Please Shadow-" Jasper couldn't say the rest, to embarrassing but he got the message.

That was all he needed to finish their night on a good note. Was just a simple please before he gave Jasper what she wanted. What they both wanted.

Author notes:

Hey happy new years everybody. First I want to thank you for your patience it took me a little bit to type this one up. Mostly with just the way I wanted to go about things since I really don't know how you, the readers, would react if I wanted to write about explicit content between the characters. Later I will probably draw out the actions between the two when the lights go down but will see. If anyone would be offended by that then please just PM me or drop a yay or nay in the reviews. Again thank you and I hope you enjoyed.

Shadow...