Sooo hey, I actually meant for this to be up sooner but then life got in the way. Sorry in advance if there are any mistakes; I'll probably go through this chapter again at some point just to double-check and ensure there aren't any errors.
To Wxnderland: I know I don't have to thank you but I do anyway because you don't have to review, yet you make time to do so. So seriously, thank you, haha ^_^
Thank you again for your kind reviews, especially the Guest that reviewed! I hope everyone is doing well and that you all continue to enjoy the story! :D
.: 14 :.
They reached the Jojo residence quickly, the sun acting as an ally as it fought to remain in the sky just a wee bit longer. The house, much like Bubbles' own home, was littered with dents and scratches, almost every window shattered. The elaborate air horn trap that Boomer had set up lay in pieces on the front lawn, possibly the infected's way of mocking his attempt at an alarm.
The house, while probably a mess inside, didn't appear inhabited. Most of the Jojo house was made up of large windows and without them or their coverings, sunlight filtered through almost every inch and made it practically impossible for infected to hang out inside. That is, if sunlight still repelled them.
"I'll go in first," Boomer whispered, reaching for the baseball bat strapped across his back. "And I'll let you know if it's clear or not."
"Don't you think it'd be a better idea to go in together?" she asked. "Safety in numbers and all that?"
He shook his head. "I know every corner of that house so I know every potential hiding spot. If there's something in there, I'd rather you be outside and ready to go in case we have to book it. It'll waste precious time if I have to come find you, and who knows? If there actually is something in there, it might use that time to call more of 'em in. Just trust me on this."
Bubbles wanted to protest but he was already half up the walkway. As he maneuvered himself through the half-torn door, she clutched Buttercup's baseball bat that much tighter, silently praying that the house was clear.
Five minutes passed. Then ten. Then fifteen. Bubbles worried her bottom lip while she took in her surroundings, her gaze lingering over each and every house she could see. She was just about to enter Boomer's house herself to see if something had happened when he poked his head out from the living room window.
"It's safe! Come on!" He kept his voice to almost a whisper, and Bubbles jogged up the walkway to join him in the living room. She squeezed past the half-broken door and looked at the travesty that lay around them. Shredded books, broken vases, ripped up furniture... And to think the house had been spotless only two days prior.
Boomer led her into the kitchen where, mercifully, the cabinets hadn't been tampered with. They went through the fridge and the pantry, grabbing as much of the leftover food they could fit into their backpacks. The solar panels were still working perfectly, thank goodness, so any perishables were still edible. When they'd stuffed their backpacks with everything they could find, Boomer handed Bubbles a chocolate bar that he'd been saving.
At her perplexed expression, he grinned. "Think of it as rent for letting me stay at your place. I know I can be a pain, so... Think of it as a thank-you for tolerating me."
Bubbles frowned. "You're not a pain, Boomer, and there's no need to pay any sort of 'rent' to stay with me. We look out for each other, remember? We're friends."
"Yeah, but... Still." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I also figured you might like the last chocolate bar on earth."
His backpack full-to-bursting, Boomer set it down on the floor before heading upstairs. Bubbles chewed her lip as she looked at the candy bar.
It bothered her that Boomer thought of himself as a burden. Truth be told, she was enjoying his company; he helped her feel at home when her house felt like anything but home. If it hadn't been for Boomer's cheerful entry into her life, she wasn't sure what she would be doing right now. Would she have even lasted this long? And without Boomer, would she have ever thought to hide in her father's laboratory? Maybe she would have been killed or worse, turned into one of the monsters running around Townsville, Citysville, maybe even the rest of the world if Boomer was correct when he'd initially said the whole world was dealing with the same outbreak.
A dark thought wormed its way to the front of her mind as her thumb rubbed over the smooth sides of the candy bar. If not for Boomer, would she have lost hope at ever seeing her family again and—
A painful lump formed in her throat. Her gaze fell onto her hands and she turned her free one over, examining the blemish-free skin with a blank expression. The fact that she was alive was a gift considering how violent the infected were, but without the ray of hope that was Boomer Jojo, it was possible that she might have turned to suicide. Why would anyone want to survive in a world like this, where you slowly watched all of your family and friends die at the hands of the infected? She knew she would have tried to hold out for the supposed rescue team that was sent out to retrieve her, but loneliness had a funny way of twisting one's thoughts and feelings. Bubbles wasn't sure how long she would have lasted living in perpetual silence each day and night, no one to talk to, nothing to do but wait and listen. She was sure her mind would have killed her if the infected didn't first.
Boomer brought so much light into her life. Butterflies did somersaults in her stomach at the thought of the blonde young man and, for once, she allowed herself to enjoy the feeling.
"Oh-ho, jackpot!"
Bubbles snapped out of her thoughts when he rushed into the room holding a stuffed animal—a turtle with star shapes all along the surface of its plastic shell.
"I forgot I had this!" He was beaming. "It still works and everything! We can use this when we stay in the basement."
He clicked a button located on its side and the shell lit up, star-shaped lights projection onto the ceiling. He admired the silver star lights with that brilliant smile remaining on his face, eyes alight with childlike wonder. To see him so happy only made the butterflies worse and she decided that yes, if Boomer had never come around, a life all by herself in the Utonium residence would be no life at all.
"It'll look better in the dark," he promised, clicking the switch off. "Man, I can't believe I still have this thing. Last time I used it, I must've been eight or nine."
Bubbles smiled. "That's one of those night-light plushies, isn't it?"
"I was super afraid of the dark when I was a kid," he admitted. Perking up again, he held it up. "It'll be like we're in a planetarium! Well, sort of."
Before Bubbles could respond, a distant screech pierced the air. The smiles were instantly wiped off both blondes' faces, Bubbles' expression growing fearful while Boomer's became dark. He nodded at Bubbles and she immediately understood, shrugging her backpack on as quickly as she could.
They made it back to her house in one piece, thank goodness, and they retreated into the basement just in case any infected were hanging around. They brought all of their food supply downstairs with them this time, taking care not to place anything too close to any of Professor Utonium's experiments. The last thing they needed was for any of their stuff to become contaminated by his concoctions.
After a dinner of sandwiches that used up the remaining cold-cuts they'd retrieved from Boomer's fridge, Bubbles and Boomer set up the turtle light and watched the stars twinkle on the ceiling above. It wouldn't last forever but for tonight, it was a treat to see a night sky... Even if it was just an artificial replica.
The infected arrived around midnight again, not quite destroying Bubbles' house this time but it was clear they were rummaging through everything, still hoping to find them. At one point, something was smashed against a wall, sounding very much like ceramic. Bubbles wasn't sure if they even owned anything ceramic but if they did, it was broken now.
While the house was being invaded, Bubbles and Boomer were sitting on their makeshift bed, their gazes on the silver star lights above.
"Did you ever have any dream careers?"
It was Bubbles, funnily enough, who decided to speak first tonight. Boomer stretched his arms high into the air before letting them fall back to his sides, a yawn escaping him.
"Of course I did. At one point I wanted to be a pro-wrestler, but one round against Butch and that dream quickly died." He pointed to the thin scar over his eyebrow and Bubbles had to squint to see it. "You've probably noticed the scar I have here. That's all thanks to our wrestling match in the driveway."
Bubbles barely contained the snort that threatened to morph into giggles. "You guys were wrestling in the driveway? Boomer, pavement is the worst place to do that."
"Well...!" He huffed indignantly but she could see his smile in the dim glow of the turtle's light. "Try telling that to two determined eight year-old boys. Like we ever listened to Mojo at that age... Even Brick didn't heed his advice. He's still got a scar on his knee from when we decided we were gonna be big-time skateboarders. I think that lasted a week before Mojo put an end to that."
She chuckled. "To be honest, I meant more along the lines of did you ever think about what you wanted to do after college."
"Oh!" Boomer paused. "I don't really know. I think I went to college for two weeks before I dropped out. It just wasn't for me; I'm not really good when it comes to academics. I didn't really fit into trade school, either. I gotta say, though, sometimes I didn't mind not knowing my purpose. Being a delivery boy wasn't the greatest job in the world, but it wasn't the worst either. I felt okay about my life, about not knowing anything that was to come."
"You weren't even a little nervous about the future?"
"Nah."
She felt slightly envious. "I was always afraid of what the future held. I always thought that if I didn't get a good job or I didn't get into a good school, I wouldn't be useful to my family."
"Useful? Bubbles, you're not a tool." He reached over to pinch her cheek and she dodged him, sticking her tongue out at him. He offered a toothy smile in reply and she settled back down next to him, returning her gaze to the artificial stars above them.
"I know that, but..." She sighed. "I love my family. My sisters and my father have always been there for me no matter what, and I figure if I could get a decent job, I could pay them back. Not literally, of course, but I'd love to be in a position where I could give them all the money they could ever want or need. I want to have a career where I can toss thousands of dollars around like it's nothing. If my dad needed a new car, boom—I could buy him a BMW. If my sisters wanna go on a shopping spree, boom—I can give them a couple grand to go nuts. I just wanted to make enough money to make sure my family's happy, you know?"
Boomer grinned. "I wish I could do that, too. I know my brothers would love to have a couple new video game consoles but unfortunately, any money we made had to be put towards the house bills and gas. Mojo made a decent living but we felt bad if we didn't pitch in somehow."
"My sisters and I felt the same way. We tried getting odd jobs here and there to help our dad with the house bills, mostly."
A loud crash echoed upstairs.
"Really? What kind of job did you have before all this?"
"Well, I couldn't really work because I had to put all my focus onto school," she explained. "And believe me, I still feel bad that I couldn't do both, especially when my sisters were able to do it."
Boomer waved her off. "Everyone's different, Bubbles. People can't always handle the pressure of work and school and that's okay."
She played with a stray thread on her shirt. "I know, but still."
"So what were you going to school for?"
"I was majoring in English with a minor in art," she replied. "And actually, I was thinking of switching my major to art, but before I could actually decide—"
It sounded like a pan clattered to the kitchen floor. Bubbles gestured above them.
"Those guys showed up and pretty much made the decision for me that I was done attending school."
"English and art, huh?" Boomer nodded slowly. "Were you planning to become a teacher?"
Bubbles laughed. Not even she knew the answer to that question. "I don't know; I just know that I enjoyed going to college because I love the academic atmosphere. There's so many nice people on campus, too, and I love the person that I've become since my first semester. College does something to you... Makes you more mature, I think. Does that sound strange?"
"Not at all," Boomer assured. "I watched Brick go through some major changes when he started attending the community college in Citysville. He became less of a jerk and much more thoughtful, definitely a lot more empathetic."
A comfortable silence fell over them, the occasional sounds of infected running around and messing with more of the Utonium family's belongings interrupting it. Bubbles played with her hair, noting with slight disgust that she would have to brave ice-cold water tomorrow just to wash up.
"You know," Boomer broke the silence. "If you think about it, not knowing what comes next is actually not that bad, especially back then when we were under so much pressure from society to figure out what we wanted to do with our lives."
Bubbles pursed her lips. "What do you mean?"
"Not knowing what comes next is actually the best part about being alive." At Bubbles' perplexed expression, he continued: "When you have no idea what comes next, it's all the more reason to appreciate what you have now. Think about it: we could lose each other at any moment to those freaks outside, so we spend every day laughing and being happy because maybe one day we won't have that anymore."
His words hit her like a freight train. While Boomer was absolutely right, the thought of anything happening to him made her gut churn with dread. Tears welled up in Bubbles' eyes at the thought of their time together coming to a tragic end. She couldn't imagine surviving in this horrible world without him; she'd barely been surviving before meeting him. They weren't exactly lovers or anything, but after getting to know Boomer, she knew she would never be the same if something ripped him away from her. She wasn't even sure she'd be able to handle it.
"You know, now that I think about it..." Boomer continued, turning to face her. "I don't think I've ever had a best friend before, not even as a little kid. Would it be weird if I said you're the closest I've ever had to a best friend?"
She sniffled as quietly as she could but her voice was still watery. "N-no. You're my best friend, too, B-Boomer."
He stared at her. "Are you crying?"
"N-no."
Boomer immediately moved closer to her, sticking his face so close to hers that their noses were only centimeters from touching. A slight blush tinted her cheeks when she realized that they were only one movement away from actually kissing.
"Is that why you've got tears running down your face?"
Bubbles hastily reached up to wipe them away. "I-I just got something in my eye."
"Uh-huh." He leaned away to allow her her personal space. "What's wrong? Should I not have mentioned the best friend thing?"
"No, no, I'm honored you think so highly of me that you'd consider me your best friend." Bubbles sniffled again. "It's just that... I really hope that this never has to end, you know? I used to be afraid of the infected, of my family dying, and I still am but then I met you and everything got better and..."
She shook her head, covering her face with her hands as the dam burst. "Boomer, I'm afraid of losing you, too."
Her voice cracked and Boomer pulled her into a hug, letting her cry into his shirt. The thin material was soaked within minutes and he patted her back as she sobbed softly against him. It broke his heart to hear her so upset.
However, it also made him feel a little warm inside to know she cared enough about him that she was afraid of losing him. To be honest, no one was ever afraid of losing Boomer. As someone who was never anyone's first choice, he quickly accepted the fact that no one—except maybe his family—cared much about his well-being or whether or not he was alive. He was just some obnoxious kid who wouldn't stop talking or stumbling all over himself; that was what his peers led him to believe and it was how they treated him, as nothing more than a nuisance to ignore or frown upon.
It was nice to know that Bubbles didn't view him in that light.
"Nothing's going to happen to me," he promised, pointing to his chest. "I'm totally indestructible."
She managed a weak smile and he gave her another reassuring squeeze.
"Nah, but everything will turn out alright, Bubbles, I promise. For now, we have to be careful and we have to keep our spirits up, but I'm confident we'll make it out of this alive. You, me, all the people we love... We'll be okay. Something's gotta give sooner or later."
"Something was supposed to 'give' a few weeks ago, when my sisters sent a rescue team my way," she countered.
"Yeah, but we're still alive. Rescue team or not, we have food, we're still alive, and we haven't lost our marbles like the infected. That's something, right?"
"Right..."
Boomer patted her back. "We just gotta be careful and keep our spirits up. I promise you, we'll make it out of this alive."
She looked up at him like a little kid. "You promise?"
"Yes. Cross my heart, hope to live."
She sniffled again but at least she was smiling this time.
"I'm sorry. I feel like all I do is cry when I should be brave."
Boomer pinched her cheek and she let him for once, not even trying to swat his hand away.
"None of that. You're a lot braver than most people I know and I'd honestly be concerned if you didn't cry in a world like this."
Although her tears had ceased, she remained in his arms, his minty scent wrapping around her. Even through the muffled sounds upstairs, she could still make out his heartbeat. The constant bump-bump of his heart was reassuring, a sign that Boomer was here with her right now, that in this moment they were safe and sound and everything was okay. She'd never understood those couples that liked hearing their partner's heartbeat, but now she did, even though she and Boomer were not romantically involved.
Boomer's stomach rumbled, ruining the moment, but they both chuckled.
"That actually reminds me." Bubbles sat up and reached for her backpack. A particularly loud crash sounded upstairs but she didn't freak out or flinch; instead, she continue rummaging through her backpack until her fingers grasped the object she was looking for.
She tore off what sounded like a wrapper and held something out to Boomer.
"What's this?" he asked.
"The candy bar you gave me earlier," she replied, her free hand reaching up to wipe at her damp cheeks. "I figured we could share it. It's not a hot fudge sundae, but it's still technically dessert, right?"
"But this was supposed to be for you to enjoy," he protested.
"And I will, but only if we can enjoy it together. Here's your half."
More warmth spread through Boomer's chest as he reluctantly accepted it. Bubbles looked at her own piece before lifting it up in a mock-toast.
"To staying alive."
"To staying alive," he agreed, and they bumped their halves together before taking a bite of the rich milk chocolate.
"I forgot how good chocolate was," Boomer moaned. "I think if I die, my last wish will be to eat a Hershey bar."
"'If' you die? You mean you're immortal?" Bubbles half-joked (but really, the thought of losing Boomer was just as painful as the thought of losing her family).
He laughed. "I did say I was indestructible, didn't I?"
She chuckled and they both continued to enjoy their chocolate, both realizing that Bubbles had been right.
It tasted much better knowing that they were both savoring the candy together.
As the night wore on, the infected eventually left. Bubbles fully anticipated another mess when morning arrived, but for now, she and Boomer were still appreciating the silver stars being projected onto the ceiling.
After finishing their chocolate, they'd settled close together and dozed on and off as midnight blended into one o'clock, then two.
Bubbles was in a deep sleep dreaming about being bored in class, when a loud cry yanked her back to consciousness. She jolted up and groped around for her baseball bat, blinking furiously in an attempt to get her bearings. Within a second of grasping the bat, however, the answer to her silent question of 'what's going on?' became clear as soon as she looked over at her companion.
The turtle plush was still on and still projecting those lovely star-shaped lights onto the ceiling. It gave off enough light for Bubbles to see that Boomer was tossing and turning in his sleep, a few whimpers escaping him as his head moved from side to side.
He's having a nightmare, Bubbles realized, and she let go of the bat to reach out to touch his arm when he suddenly lurched forward, chest heaving with pants. He looked around, eyes wild with terror before he realized he was okay, and he let himself fall back onto the pillows. Embarrassed, he brought an arm up to cover his eyes.
Bubbles had never seen him look so afraid before. His lips quivered with every pant as if he were fighting back tears.
"Boomer?"
"I-I'm sorry." His voice was thick. "I-it was a nightmare."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Bubbles offered, taking his free hand into hers. Boomer was silent for a moment and she wondered if he'd fallen back asleep. However, she didn't have to wonder for long because he moved his arm to sit up.
"It's hard for me to admit, but... It was about my father," he murmured. "About the day he woke up as one of them."
When Bubbles didn't reply, he went on: "When he turned, it was like nothing I ever saw before. It took almost a full day for the infection to kick in and we watched him grow more and more aggressive with every hour. He tried picking fights with Brick and Butch since they were the ones keeping a close eye on him, and at one point he had Butch up against the wall by the throat. Brick managed to talk him down, but he would've beat the shit out of Butch, and that's no small feat... You've seen my brother, he's huge, and Mojo, he's always been thin, but he picked him up like he weighed nothing."
The brokenness of his tone tugged at her heartstrings. She couldn't imagine watching her own father lose his mind like that, to know that it was only a matter of time before he became a monster.
"The day after he turned, he took off towards Townsville. I still remember... I was dozing off outside his bedroom. Brick and Butch were sitting at his bedside, but they were asleep in the chairs they pulled up. Mojo got up, came into the living room, and he looked like... Well, he looked like death. He was breathing all heavy, his eyes were bloodshot to the point I think his whites of his eyes were completely pink instead of white, and he kind of reminded me of one of those big cat documentaries. You know, the ones where they film lions stalking a bunch of antelopes or something? He was walking like a predator, like he was getting ready to hunt something.
"He came over to me and I pretended I was still sleeping, but he didn't try to bite me or attack me. It was weird... The day before, he was ready to pummel Butch into a bloody pulp but he seemed to be hesitating when he saw me. Mojo just sniffed around the living room before leaving. I woke my brothers up and told them what happened, but it didn't make any sense; why would Mojo leave me alone when he was ready to kill Butch for breathing?"
Boomer's eyebrows knitted together as he frowned. "We thought maybe Mojo would lead other infected back to us, but we never saw him again. After he left, I started having nightmares. I don't get them often but when I do, they seriously f-freak me out."
"Do the nightmares usually center around your dad?" Bubbles asked. Boomer exhaled through his nose.
"Yeah... Mostly they're about him not hesitating. Some of them are about him chasing me down until he finally catches me, and then I wake up. Sometimes I dream that I'm infected and I go after my brothers. More often than not, though, the nightmares usually revolve around him brutally killing Brick and Butch in front of me while I'm frozen to the spot and then, when he's ready to attack me, I wake up. I'm scared of losing them, Bubbles, they're... Th-they're the only family I have a-and..."
His voice cracked and Bubbles immediately pulled him into a hug. His tears wet the top of her tank top as he cried and she held him tightly, as if her grip would help keep him from falling apart.
"A-and I'm scared of losing you, too," he added. "You really are the best friend I've ever had. If I lose anymore people I care about, I don't..."
He sniffled thickly and pulled back to wipe his eyes with his hoodie sleeve. "I don't know what I'll do. I d-don't think I can go on.."
Bubbles was about to reply when he continued to speak. "A-and tonight's nightmare was probably the worst one yet. It wasn't completely about my dad, though, which is honestly a shocker."
"Then who was it about?" she asked.
"Well.. Half of it was about my dad, b-but..." Boomer lowered his gaze. "The other half... Was about you, Bubbles."
She blinked. "Me?"
He lifted his hands to his face again, almost ashamed. "I-I dreamed that one of those things got in and hurt you, and I c-couldn't do anything to protect you. I watched you d-die."
A quiet sob escaped him and she rubbed his back. When she was younger, sometimes she'd have a rare dream of losing one of her sisters or her father, so she knew how rattling a dream like that could be.
"I'm not going anywhere," Bubbles promised. "I'm here and we're in this together."
"I-I know that, but.. Oh man, I'm gonna sound like a hypocrite for saying this," he gave a bitter chuckle. "I lectured you all those times about worrying but I worry, too. I worry that something might happen, that maybe we'll get discovered or they'll catch us off-guard. I know you're here with me but there's always a chance that something bad could happen."
"Yeah, but you could argue that about any situation," she countered, rubbing circles into his back. "I mean, if you leave your house to go to the mall, there's always a chance that something bad could happen, right? You could get into a car accident, you could get mugged, your debit card might get rejected and then you can't buy yourself fro-yo or pretzel bites."
She felt Boomer smile weakly at that last part.
"There's always a chance that something bad could happen, especially to us, but we're doing everything we can to be careful. We're not going out at night, we stay quiet, we're hiding down here where we have an escape plan should one of those things bust the door down, and we're staying close together. I seriously doubt that anything will happen to me or you, and if it does..."
Bubbles sighed. "If it does, then I like to think that we'll get to see our families again in the afterlife. But that's worst-case-scenario; we're going to make it out alive and they will, too."
"N-no, I know, and I'm n-not saying I don't have faith in us," he protested weakly. "What I meant was... I just... Ugh! Everything's coming out all wrong tonight."
He pulled back from her to cover his face with his hands. "I'm sorry."
"Boomer." Bubbles gently pried his hands from his face. He was a mess, with tear-tracks streaking down his face, eyes puffy and probably red, his lips wet from a few stray tears that dribbled down to kiss the edges of his mouth.
"You don't have to apologize for everything." She reached up to gently pinch his cheek. "I got you, okay? I understand."
It was then that something between them changed.
They looked into each other's eyes for a little while despite the darkness, the silver star lights above offering a different sort of light. The atmosphere had changed and neither of them could think of a word to accurately describe what they felt in that moment. It's just that the cool darkness of Professor Utonium's lab, their last stand against the infected, was no longer filled with tension, anxiety, or dread that they would be discovered. A sort of peace had chased away all of the negative emotions that had plagued them for the past few weeks, and with this peace came something else that neither of them could accurately describe.
Boomer's gaze drifted down to her lips, though Bubbles thought his eyes had closed. She leaned her forehead against his, her heart hammering in her chest at their close proximity. Something had changed between them and she wasn't sure when it had happened or what to make of it. Did Boomer like her? Did she like him back in that way? Okay, so the answer to the second question was a resounding 'yes,' but what if he didn't feel the same way? And even if he did, was this really the appropriate time to start a relationship, when they could be ripped away from each other at the drop of a hat?
However, Boomer's eyes lifted to hers once more, a silent question in his half-lidded gaze. She wasn't sure what he was asking but offered him a smile anyway. It was then that his eyes closed and he leaned closer, so close that his breath ghosted over her mouth, and then Boomer's lips met hers.
Bubbles froze at the action, eyes widening with surprise. The kiss was tender and sweet, nothing more or less than innocent affection. She'd kissed a few boys before but no one ever kissed her as tenderly as Boomer was kissing her now.
Suddenly, Boomer pulled back like he'd been burned, his expression morphing into one of remorse. Bubbles' hand was immediately at her mouth as if she was trying to decide whether or not the kiss had been real while Boomer began sputtering apology after apology.
"Oh man, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to cross a line, I'm so stupid and I'm sorry and—"
She silenced him by placing her lips over his this time and he melted under her once he realized her eyes were closed in gentle concentration.
His hands timidly came to rest on her hips and she snaked her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss when she tilted her head to the side. Boomer licked her bottom lip shyly and she opened her mouth to allow him access. Their tongues met in a sweet, shy dance and when they parted for air, Bubbles was the one to apologize this time.
"I'm sorry if I crossed a line," she whispered. "But in my defense, you started it."
He actually laughed. "Maybe, but you had no problem finishing it."
Bubbles grinned. "You make a valid point."
Boomer leaned in again and their lips met once more, though this time he was much more bold, his teeth nibbling playfully at her bottom lip. In turn, Bubbles reached up to tangle her fingers in his silky locks and gave them a soft tug, causing him to moan quietly.
When they parted again, they both wore huge, dopey grins and couldn't stop the semi-awkward giggles that burst forth. Even though they couldn't quite make out the color of each other's faces, it was clear they were both blushing bright red. Butterflies raged through both of their stomachs, their pulses thumping furiously, and they trembled with the nervousness and excitement that often comes with the realization that one's feelings are reciprocated.
When they could finally look each other in the eye again, Boomer's hand found hers and intertwined their fingers together.
"I've been dying to do that," he admitted, leaning forward to rest his forehead against hers.
"To kiss me or hold my hand?" Bubbles teased.
Boomer chuckled. "Both."
"Honestly? Same here."
At that, Boomer's eyebrows rose with surprise. "Really?"
"Mm-hmm."
"So... What does this make us?" he asked.
She had wrestled with her feelings for so long and rationalized time and time again how a relationship couldn't and shouldn't happen in their circumstances, yet now, Bubbles realized a relationship might not be such a bad thing. Boomer had been onto something earlier when he said that not knowing what happened next made every waking moment something to appreciate. If they were going to die soon, then Bubbles would rather die knowing she had spent her final days cuddling and kissing Boomer and being happy with him than to die and regret not telling him how she truly felt.
"I don't know," Bubbles admitted, her free hand coming to cup his jaw. Her thumb caressed his skin lovingly. "But... I'm pretty sure I'm yours."
Boomer nuzzled his nose against hers affectionately. "I'm pretty sure I've been yours for a while now, Bubbles."
