Otherworld

April Fool's

April Fool's

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The sun was particularly warm on a chilly April morning, the golden rays bleeding through Malachi's curtains as he lay sprawled on his side with Adrian tucked under his arm, snoring quietly. Malachi smiled dreamily and curled his arm around his lover, tilting his head down to bury his nose in Adrian's silky blonde hair, inhaling the sweet natural scent of him mixed with his soft brown sugar and cookie shampoo.

"You're tickling me." Adrian mumbled against the pillow, eyes still closed. Malachi chuckled softly, reaching up to tuck a lock of hair behind Adrian's ear so he could kiss the soft shell of it and Adrian smiled, squirming beneath him until he was rolling onto his back and Malachi propped himself up on top of him, leaning over to capture his lips in a gentle kiss. He started to close his eyes when a shrill scream tore through the air and he jerked upright. Adrian sat up fast, whacking his forehead into Malachi's, both of them groaning and slumping back down to the bed.

"What the hell was that?" Malachi growled in frustration, throwing the blankets back and sliding out of the bed. Adrian blinked back tears of pain, more irritated than anything as he slid from the bed to pull his pants on.

"It sounded like Fos." He muttered, referring to the weather demon that was in charge of the main lobby. Malachi frowned, opening his mouth to respond when another scream tore through the air, this time firing up both Malachi and Adrian to hurriedly put their clothes on before leaving the bedroom, traveling down the dark Gothic hallway of their mansion to the main lobby where a large chandelier made to look like ice crystals twinkled red with a corpse that hung over the loops.

Adrian gasped, clasping a hand over his mouth and Malachi froze at the sight. Fos stood backed up behind the front desk, shaking and screaming at the body a third time before she slumped to the floor and covered her head.

The corpse was old, too old, and reeked of rotting flesh. A sweet pungent scent that made Malachi's skin crawl. He approached the body slowly, then stopped to see the puddles of blood on the floor. He scowled for a moment before paling, realizing slowly that the blood wasn't just in random puddles... but organized patterns to form the most dreaded words of the entire year.

April Fool's!

"Shit," Malachi cursed, clenching his fists and whirling away from the sight, "Fos, call Tiya and Miko in here to clean up this mess. Come on, Adrian." He took his lover's hand and led him from the room, and Adrian rubbed at his nose in an attempt to clear his nostrils of the putrid stench as he swallowed bile down.

"W-What the heck was that?" He managed. Malachi started to ask Adrian how he couldn't know, until he realized Adrian had been in the mortal realm visiting his mother every year around this time. He'd done it on purpose in the beginning, to keep Adrian away from the horrid holiday, but he had been so engrossed in Adrian himself that he completely forgot to send his lover away.

Now it was too late.

"Damn it," Malachi seethed in frustration as he quickly pulled Adrian into his bedroom, pausing to look up and down the halls suspiciously before he shut the door and locked it, turning to Adrian, who was staring at him, puzzled, "You're usually at your mother's during this time of the year and I completely forgot to send you there this time." Adrian raised an eyebrow, folding his arms over his chest as he watched Malachi run to the wall of windows across the room, pulling the curtains across them to plunge them into darkness that didn't last long as Malachi snapped his fingers and lit the tall Victorian lamps in the room.

Now Adrian was concerned. Malachi was never this paranoid. What could possibly be going on? What did he mean "this time of the year"? Surely he wasn't referring to Hades. Hades and Persephone had a peaceful divorce and were, in fact, voted the Underworld's biggest friend couple... something that still confused Adrian to this day.