Bar Red's Redemption ✔

c h a p t e r. 28

"Why doesn't hatred kill desire? I would have given anything to sleep. I would have behaved like a schoolboy if I had believed in the possibility of a substitute. But there was a time when I had tried to find a substitute, and it hadn't worked."
― Graham Greene

chapter 28

"A kiss to my babygirl's head," Bar's lips fluttered over Clementine's forehead, making her sleepily giggle. "A kiss to my babygirl's nose." His mouth moves down. "A kiss to my babygirl's cheek." His mouth covers her freckles. "A kiss to my babygirl's lips."

Bar gave the little goddess a peck on her soft lips before he pushed himself up to hover over her.

He already had gotten ready for the day and remained awake when, after brushing their teeth together, Clementine retreated back to their bed.

The little goddess still had her eyes closed but a gorgeous smile tugged on her lips and it made Bar smile, too.

Around Clementine, smiling was easy.

It had been two weeks since they started dating, and since Bar learned about her scar, and the couple was feeling closer than thought possible.

Bar was simply enjoying his time with her.

The brute enjoyed when she spent the night, he enjoyed waking up with Clementine in his arms, he enjoyed how nightmares rarely disturbed his sleep, he enjoyed talking with her over their breakfast and after they laid down for bed, he enjoyed not being so alone anymore.

He enjoyed the way he could imagine doing all of that for a long time in the future, too.

Clementine was his future. Bar was sure of it.

"Are you going to get up, sweetheart?" Bar glanced over at his clock. "It's already ten."

"No," Clementine groaned out, snuggling her body against Bar's but hiding her face into her pillow. "It's too early."

Bar, surprisingly, was a morning person most days but Clementine, he was quickly learning, was not.

"I thought you wanted to meet Gwen," Bar teased, smile widening into a grin that brought out his dimples when the little goddess started to blink her eyes open. Clementine had been asking about Bar's family again the night before, and then grew curious about his sister.

Being a proud big brother, Bar instantly went off on a rant about how Little Dipper would become an astronaut one day and that lead to Clementine asking to meet Gwen.

Which Bar agreed to without hesitance-- even when he rarely let people know about Gwen.

The fewer people who knew she was related to the town's beast, the less she got picked on.

Besides, Clementine trusted him with her scar, her body, and her heart. Bar could trust her with his sister.

And it's not like she asked to meet Bar's dad.

That he wouldn't allow.

"I-I do," Clementine mumbled, cutely yawning a second later, covering her mouth with her hand. It made Bar yawn too. "I just don't know why we have to go there so early."

"Because Gwen gets out of her ballet class at noon and she wanted to go to a carnival after." Bar explained, sitting up next to Clementine before pulling the goddess onto his lap, making her blink rapidly to adjust to the rush of awareness. "And when she's hyped up on sugar and having fun is the best time to meet her."

Gwen, despite witnessing what her father does to her brother, never lets her wicked heritage weigh her down.

She was a happy kid.