Nexus [COMPLETE]

44. Domare

August 2013

An evening spent sitting side-by-side in our small apartment. Shadows cast across the walls from pale fluorescence. Water dripping from the faucet of the kitchen sink, pattering against the metal bottom. Drip, drip, drip, went the water. Thud, thud, thud, drummed our hearts in perfect unison. Blood pumped through Winston's veins beside me, hot and sweet under his skin. We'd been sitting in silence for nearly an hour.

I hated to break the calm.

"Tomorrow is the day," I said needlessly.

"It is," he said in reply, staring blankly at the old television on the floor, the one he had delved from Storage an afternoon so long ago, or so it seemed. Really, it hadn't been that long.

"If we get separated," I dared say, and Winston stiffened beside me.

"I will not leave you," he insisted, and I rolled my eyes.

"Did you think I was asking you to?" I said smartly. "I would never let you run off without me. I'm far too selfish for that."

He laughed. "I should have known."

"But there are worse things," I mentioned. "Death is the ultimate separation."

"I'm not sure what I'd do, if you died," he said, half in shock at the realization.

"I'd find someone willing to decapitate me, if it happened to you," I said honestly. "Life without Winston DeBrock would be so boring." I was being completely serious.

"No," he growled, turning to meet my eyes. "Don't do that."

"Fire, then," I insisted. "A sycamore stake?"

"That's not funny, Domare."

"I know," I told him. "I'm being serious."

He glared. "And if you died, and I was left alone - would you want me to kill myself?"

I contemplated my answer. "I'd wait eagerly for you in the afterlife."

Winston's resulting expression was a mixture of horror and amusement. "You're a terrible person, Domare."

"And you are a far too good one," I returned, leaning against him on the couch. "I'd be bored without you."

"I'd be...miserable," he said hesitantly.

I snorted. "Thanks."

"It's not that I don't care," Winston defended, "but I do have a family outside Pluto. I'd owe it to them to live on."

"That's fine, but in the afterlife you'd be mine again."

He made a face.

"I know our relationship does not make sense to you," I voiced, aiming to comfort, "but it's a good one."

"I'm not complaining," Winston countered, blushing slightly, "but if we do get out, I keep picturing how my family would react to everything, especially you."

I smirked. "I imagine that it would be an entertaining event."

"Dad, Mom," Winston mimed, "this is my platonic life-partner. He's a vampire with a bad attitude, but I like him so deal with it."

I snickered. "I'm actually looking forward to that."

"We won't get to see them," Winston said sadly. "Even if this works, I would never put them in that kind of danger."