Love Bites

Home Sweet Office Complex

So many questions lingered between the trio, yet the only one being voiced at the moment was Error's demand to know why a rat was poking its head out of the hole in Geno's skull. It was a cute little thing honestly, a small albino rat that flinched away from the loud scream, only to poke its head back out in curiosity at the new faces. Geno just blinked a couple times, not understanding the question until the rat in question gave a little squeak of acknowledgement.

Once again, the small skeleton went to speak, only for a look of pain to flash across his face. Reaper wished that he knew what was causing his boyfriend such pain, wondering if it was something that could be fixed or if it was a part of... whatever happened to the smaller. Before he could try to assure the scarfed skeleton as Error had done earlier, he saw an idea cross the smaller's face as he squatted down to the ground.

His finger began to move in the dust and dirt, drawing lines and patterns, and the cloaked skeleton felt stupid for how long it took for him to realize that Geno was writing something. A single word written in the dirt: SQUEAKS. "Squeaks? Is... that the rat's name?" Reaper asked, cocking his head to the side in confusion.

The scarfed skeleton quickly nodded his head, a smile stretching across his skull in agreement. The name was erased as a hand smeared the dirt flat, allowing him to write another word, PET. "Oh, you have a pet rat, that's so cute!" Reaper cooed, ignoring the scoff his actions received from his brother-in-law.

"Okay... still doesn't answer my question of why it's in your head," Error grumbled, only to be left unimpressed by the next word written, HE. "Oh, excuse me for misgendering your rat! Why is he in your head?" SAFE.

"That's a pretty fair answer," the taller commented, figuring that a small rat could get lost easily in the chaos of this hellish world. "He doesn't scratch up your skull or hurt you, does he?" Geno shook his head no, bringing a hand to where his right socket once was. A soft clicking noise came from the skeleton before the rat hopped onto his hand, standing up on his back legs to better look at the two strange skeletons. The hand was then brought towards Reaper, putting the rat right next to him. "You... want me to pet him? Sure!"

Despite his boyfriend's lack of verbal communication, the taller liked to think that he could still understand him quite well through body language and movements. And clearly, Geno wanted his family to meet his new pet! So the cloaked skeleton held out his hand, allowing Squeaks to get a good sniff of him before carefully rubbing a couple fingers down his furry back. The rat tensed at first, unsure of the contact, but not stopping him from petting. Reaper let up after a few more strokes, not wanting to stress the animal out too much, before looking at Error and gesturing with his head to do the same.

Groaning and muttering to himself, Error shuffled over to where Squeaks was currently offered up to them, only to not do the same as Reaper had. He instead just roughly stroked the creature with his whole hand, and Reaper was surprised in the slightest when Squeaks retaliated and left the black-boned skeleton cursing and shaking his finger. "The little fucker bit me!"

"I'd have bit you too if I was him, you totally manhandled him."

"Oh, since when are you an expert on how to handle a rat?!"

"Dude, you just saw me pet him! How can you not just copy what I did?" Reaper turned to Geno, expecting his boyfriend to agree with him that his gentle method of petting Squeaks was clearly superior and needed to be copied, but the smaller skeleton wasn't paying attention to their bickering, his skull turned to look down the street. Instead, a low growl echoed from him as he wordlessly pulled his pet rat back and gestured for him to climb into his skull cavity. The rat followed suit without hesitation, clearly used to the instruction.

Before either him or Error could ask what they'd done to upset him, Geno grabbed hold of them both and roughly dragged them into a nearby alley, practically throwing them behind an old dumpster with more force than was necessary. The small skeleton then climbed on top of the two of them, pinning them down while Geno continued to growl, the sound growing quieter before eventually stopping as a small pack of zombies shuffled past their hiding space.