***This is a continuation of the story from Kiss: Casablanca High School, so read that first if you want! It's not necessary to but it would help***
It's been five years since anyone's heard anything from Gene Simmons, and at this point Paul Stanley...
Eric sat back at the dinner table with a wince, clutching his chest. "Ahh shit heartburn," he grumbled. I shook my head, raising an eyebrow. "You just ate like almost an entire pizza in ten minutes, that's what you get. But watch yourself. You're not allowed to give yourself a heart attack or anything, alright?"
He grinned, rolling his eyes and reaching for another slice. "I won't! Don't worry, you're stuck with me for like at least thirty more years," he teased. I gave him a look. "Yeah nice try, I want you around until we're at least 80." "I'll do my best, but I make no promises," he said with a grin. I forced a smile, feeling slightly sick at even just the hypothetical thought of losing him. "Well you better start making promises," I grumbled.
Despite his cheerful joking at dinner, he had been pretty quiet all night and was just staring out the window as I did the dishes. Frowning, I put a hand on his shoulder, making him jump. "Hey, you okay?" I asked gently. He shrugged, giving me a faint smile. "Oh yeah I'm fine. I just...you know, I used to struggle a bit with stuff. Well no, you don't really know, it was back in middle school and like freshman year too. So before I met you, really. But anyway, yeah it's like...I dunno."
I nodded slowly, completely lost, keeping a hand on his shoulder as he took a deep breath. "Like shit man, I struggled with like a lot of things. Like stress and self-confidence and making friends and just like...like a lot of things. Just life in general really, and especially school. And it got bad, it got really bad, and it's kind of wild for me to think that I made it out of that. Like a decade ago I was miserable but now I'm just really happy," he said softly.
"Oh...I'm sorry man, I didn't know. You never told me you went through that," I said. "But I'm really glad you're doing better. You deserve a long and happy life." He grinned, punching me in the arm affectionately. "And so do you. Anyway, wanna get drunk and watch a movie?" I smiled, shaking my head. "Sure, man. Whatever you want to do tonight." "Hell yeah! You look at movies and I'm gonna get myself a drink. Do you want one?"
"Nah, I'll just start going through stuff to watch, knock yourself out," I said, flopping back on the couch. By the time Eric made it back with several beers for himself I hadn't figured out anything to watch. "Ooh, I know! Let's watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind!" he said cheerfully. I let out a groan, leaning back on the cushions. "Again?! We've watched that so many times!" "Because it's a good movie and I like it! Besides, you've made me sit through all the Star Wars movies at least twice!" he protested.
I threw up my hands in defeat, tossing him the remote. "Ugh fine you win. I guess you do deserve to have a nice night and choose the movie." "Damn right I do," he said triumphantly, pressing play and cracking open his first beer.
We were only about halfway through the movie before he started getting really drunk. He gave me a huge smile, nestling closer against my side. "Missed you, hubbie," he mumbled, completely wasted. I was actually impressed he could string together a sentence. "I missed you too, Eric. I missed having my best friend around to talk to you. It's nice to have you back," I said, patting him on the head. He let out a yawn, snuggling even closer to me. "Mm. Missed you," he said again.
I smiled, slipping an arm around his shoulders as he let out another yawn, struggling to stay awake but still hell-bent on finishing the beer in his hand. Ten minutes later, he was asleep. He let out a snore, slumping over onto my shoulder and grabbing my arm, fast asleep. "Damn, every time I swear," I muttered with a smile, shifting slightly so he could get more comfortable. Still snoring, he pressed his face into my side, mumbling in his sleep. "You're lucky I love you so much," I grumbled, ruffling his hair and turning back to the movie, accidentally dropping off to sleep myself.
By the time I woke up, Eric had slumped over onto my lap, clutching my thighs, and it was bright and sunny outside. Grinning, I patted him on the head. "Hey, get up. It's morning." "N-nooo it's too early," he mumbled, pressing his face deeper into my legs. "Shh, no it's not. Besides, I'm pretty sure my legs are asleep now thanks to you."
He sat upright, stretching with a yawn. "I would say I'm sorry but I also had a really good sleep last night so like...I'm not sorry," he said, shaking the tangled mass of hair out of his eyes. "How're you feeling?" I asked. He pushed his hair back, giving me a grin. "Not bad, actually! Got a little bit of a headache but I've had worse!" he said cheerfully. I gave him a smile, rolling my eyes and rising to my feet. "I don't know why I let you pick the movie since you just fell asleep anyway. I have stuff to do for work here though, so I'm going to get started on that."
He jumped to his feet, still yawning. "Sounds good! I'm gonna go for a walk or something so I'm not bugging you," he said, heading for the door.
As much as I loved him, it was nice to have a few hours of peace and quiet to do some work. The front door opened and shut as Eric finally got home, and I would've just kept working had there not been the sound of a dog barking immediately followed by Eric shushing it. "Eric what was that?" I called.
"Uhh...nothing! Don't worry about it!" he shouted over the sound of more barking.
I walked into the living room, raising an eyebrow as he struggled to hold something behind his back. "What did you do now?" "Okay I know you might be mad butttt meet Baxter!" he said, showing me a puppy that was squirming in his hands, tail waving excitedly.
"You got a dog."
"I got a dog!"
"Why did you get a dog?"
He shrugged, face pink. "I dunno! It was in a box labeled free puppies and it looked so cute I didn't want to just leave it!" "Are we even allowed to have pets?" I asked. His smile got even bigger. "Yep! I called the landlord and asked before I picked him up! We can have him! If you're okay with that, of course. Obviously if you don't want a dog we won't have a dog!"
"Okay but if he eats my stuff he's gone," I muttered, heading back to our room. "Yes! Bruce you're the best I'll train him I promise!" Eric cried. I just smiled, shaking my head.
Eric was absolutely thrilled to have a dog, and he and Baxter sat on the living room floor, playing together. "Okay Baxter, sit!" Of course since the dog was a puppy it completely ignored what Eric said and just kept running in circles, yipping excitedly. Still smiling, I took a snap of the two of them and sent it to the group. Eric and I have apparently become fathers. Meet Baxter
"Bruce what do you think of Baxter?! Isn't he so cute!" Grinning, I sat on the floor, petting Baxter as he ran over to me, tongue lolling out and tail wagging. "He is cute. It'll be fun to have a dog so long as we're able to train it and it doesn't make a mess." "Bruce! Baxter would never!" Eric cried, giving me a hurt look.
"I'm sure he won't," I said absentmindedly, really happy that he was happy and I was able to be happy with him.
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