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You don’t know exactly how you got here, exploring the halls with your good friend Grey and Grey alone. You still don’t know why you ended up at the Blacksite, you don’t even know your way around this place, but out of all things, what you do know?
You do know that Grey is having a rough day.
You joined Grey on an expedition as per usual, though Kyron said he didn’t want to go with you two. He mumbled something with a tried glare as he walked off, but you didn’t want to leave Grey waiting, so you went with him instead. If those two are fighting, it’s not your place to try and be a peacemaker.
Besides, you’re not upset about getting to spend time with someone like Grey.
He’s sweet! That’s all you mean. And he’s friendly enough and a scrap of distant warmth in this terrifying place.
Speaking of terrifying place, the door that your friend just opened happened to be the next resting place of the Good People.
He’s launched backwards and you’re launched out of your thoughts. He tries kicking the door closed, slamming it onto the amalgamation monster’s claw with… minor(?) injuries. You stand beside him and look over his wounds. Your brain moves too slow to do much of anything other than tilt your head curiously.
The Good People only dug a bit into his shoulder. The more pressing injury is from how he was tossed onto the ground and hit his face against the floor. There’s a hefty scrape across his cheek and a painful looking split in his lip. Poor guy keeps getting that hurt.
You’re staring quite adamantly at his lips. It takes you a moment to realize this. He is busy sitting up and trying to not pass out from just being thrown by a monster.
OH YEAH RIGHT MONSTERS-
You hold out your hand and he pauses before taking it. You help him to his feet and offer him a sympathetic smile.
“Three bad doors in a row and we already had to use the medkit… How… How about I try the next-?”
He cuts you off with a sharp grunt, blood starting to trail down his chin.
“No. It’s…” He shakes his head, “It’s fine, I’m not feeling much of it.”
That’s all he gives you as he leads you to the correct door this time while still holding onto your hand. The fact he usually keeps the physical contact longer than necessary is interesting to you. You wonder if he forgets he’s even touching you, or maybe he assumes you’ll wander off. Which is strange, because you haven’t done that, but nevertheless. His concern is appreciated, if not confusing.
“Not even… The stuff on your face?” You pull your fingers away from his as you ask. His brows furrow as he uses his now-free hand to feel along his cheek, wincing slightly when he finds the budding blood and accidentally smears it across the skin.
“…It’s not that bad, is it?” He asks, looking at you. You study his face, given some inferred permission, and shrug.
“Not really but you do… got some.. uh. Blood making it’s way from your mouth.”
You point semi-vaguely at his lips, and it does indeed have an ever growing trickle coming from it. He split it bad when he hit the floor. If this was another fifth death, he would have an interesting scar on both sides of his lip, they’d probably make an interesting texture.
Grey sighs and narrows his eyes as you see his tongue flick out and run along the cut.
“We’re out of bandages, so it’s not like we can do anything about it. Just my lip, anyway, it’ll heal.” Your friend grumbles before gesturing for you to follow with his chin, so adamant on continuing. It makes sense, it’s not safe to stand still. But he’s got blood dripping down his face and it is bothering you.
But whatever. You won’t bring the topic up any further. You simply follow along into the next room, picking up a stray file as Grey looks over his shoulder. Probably checking for wall dwellers. You meet his gaze and wave at him. The action causes the corner of his lip to twitch upwards before he continues once more, chuckling softly through his nose.
3 rooms later the lights flicker in a hallway with only one locker. Just as Grey huffs something about trying the next room, you grab onto his wrist. There’s no side rooms, but there is a broken door that’s a good few paces off to the side from the working one. From what you know, anglers only follow the lit up path.
“It’s fine, we can stay here.” You say with a smile as you swallow down lingering doubts. Your friend gives you an odd stare as he tries pulling his arm away.
“We shouldn’t. You can just get into the locker-”
You try pulling him to the wall as you start hearing the angler’s screech.
“If we stay out of sight, we should be fine.”
Grey says your name with an exasperated sigh, about to ask you to hide again, when you cut him off, grabbing onto the front of his jacket and yanking him against you as the monster blares by.
“We. Should. Be. Fine-”
Before you can get another word out, it screams by once more. You know better now than to think you’re safe. It’s going to come by a third time, at least.
The two of you stand, almost breathlessly, as you wait with your back against the wall and Grey’s jacket between your fingers. And his infuriatingly bloody chin right in front of your face.
“…How did you know this would be safe?” He whispers, staring at you with a hesitantly curious glare.
“I… didn’t.” You match his volume, waiting for the screeching to return, “But! As long as we stay out of their line of sight, we should be safe.”
He snorts and rolls his eyes. The moment the special angler Froger returns, though, his gaze darts to the end of the hallway and his hand presses against the wall to keep you hidden just a tad bit more. Just like before, it screams down the correct path and leaves you two alone beside the broken door.
You sigh and all but melt against the wall and smile up at Grey.
“See? All good.” You chuckle while you try to ignore the pounding in your heart.
“…Huh. All good…” He keeps his attention down the hall as he mumbles. His arm is still up above your head, so you don’t have a very good view of whatever he’s blankly staring at.
“You know you… you’ve still got some blood on your face.” You mutter, peeling your hand off his gray jumpsuit.
“Mh. It’s drying.” Your friend responds with a shrug. You sputter and have to just stay standing awkwardly with the tanks strapped onto your back pressed against the wall.
“But isn’t it itchy??”
Your completely rational question earns you a positively flabbergasted stare, Grey’s mouth open slightly as he narrows his eyes.
“Why. Why on earth would blood be itchy?”
(You’re thankful there’s the slightest hint of a laugh to his voice, otherwise you’d feel like running away.)
“Because it’s- you know! The feeling of dried blood on your skin, it’s itchy and you just gotta scratch it off.” You say, fidgeting with your hands and starting to dislike how close he is. It was fine when you were hiding from a monster! But now he’s still just. Close. When really, the two of you should be moving on already.
“If it bothers you so much you can help me with it.” Grey offers. His hand slides off the wall, though he doesn’t step back any.
“Can’t you feel it on your face?? Wouldn’t it be better if you just wiped it off yourself?”
The offer is tempting, but still weird. But perhaps it’s just because there’s no mirrors around and he’s finally seeing your reasoning.
Your friend simply shrugs and scratches at the scar along his lip. Barely even an inch away from the blood smear.
“Nevermind, I guess we should get going.” Grey says, “Staying in one place for too long is dangerous anyway.”
His words feel a little more distant than they did a moment ago. Your mouth pulls into a thin line and you place your thumb on his chin.
“No, I’ll just deal with it now. We’re as safe as we’re ever going to get right here.” You sigh, flicking your thumb against his skin. You move your other hand to his jaw to tilt his head ever so slightly to aid yourself in getting rid of this stubborn blood stain. The red has gotten all mixed up in his pepper-flecks stubble and it has an interesting texture, but you’re sure it would’ve been quite uncomfortable to deal with if the blood had dried.
You are so determined to help your pal out that you entirely forget to be embarrassed about sudden physical contact. At least, until you feel him breathe out a dry chuckle against your thumb. You turn your attention up to his eyes as he gives you a startled yet mildly amused stare, complete with a raised eyebrow and everything.
“I was joking… You do realize that, right?” He whispers as his fingers find their way around your wrist. You grunt softly and nod shortly.
“…I-I’m done now. So it doesn’t matter.”
You try pulling your hand away, though for some baffling reason Grey doesn’t let you. Not yet.
The hallway to your right is completely dark, but the singular light directly above you buzzes with a dim determination. Ever after the monster’s attack, it refuses to go out.
You can find a similar determination within Grey’s eyes. They’re cold and dark, without a doubt, but there’s still a shine of hope to them. But you could easily be reading too much into things. Projecting, even!
Above all things, your friend does seem determined, and you’d like to think that his determination is aimed towards escaping.
(Little do you know, he’s got a different goal in mind right now.)
Grey’s pointer finger slides up to the side of your thumb, guiding it back to his lip and directly over the cut. Your eyes flicker back and forth between his almost too comfortable gaze and his mouth where the wound is already starting to scab over.
“It can matter if you’re worried about it. How’s it feeling?” He asks, a committed expression across his face.
This feels a little more involved than you would’ve ever expected, coming from Grey.
“…It feels. Fine? I was just worried about. The cut.” Your words come out as a mumble as you turn your head to the side. Looking at him directly from this close is surprisingly hard and you don’t know why! How silly. You must be feeling all twisty in your stomach because you’re ashamed of touching him without really asking.
“Mhm?” Grey hums for a moment as you feel both his lips press against the pad of your thumb. He lets go of your wrist by the time you look back at him and you see him lean away with the smallest, smug little smile. You’re frozen in place with an undoubtedly dumb expression, frozen in shock.
(Truthfully, you’re smiling. Your brows are knotted together in confusion, but you are still smiling.)
“You… You’re fine-” You sputter and pull your hands away, shoving them as fists into your pockets, “You were right. We should keep moving.”
Your companion nods while his mouth pulls into a serious frown once more. His ever so familiar resting face.
When he turns his back on you, you pull your hand from your pocket and stare down at your thumb like its been dipped in gold.
WHat was that???? How silly. How silly. You’re thinking too much about it. Goodness!
You breathe softly and press your thumb against the corner of your mouth, for reasons unknown. It’s not important!! You keep moving afterwards, staying right behind your friend to stay caught up with him in just another normal escape attempt.
You continue through the hallway. It’s just… so wonderful that it’s still dark, you had somehow forgotten about the Froger that just ran through and busted all the lights, meaning even the next few rooms are going to be dark. In the past, you’ve held onto Grey to make sure you don’t get separated, but…
Ah, you’ve been touching him too much recently anyway, he’s probably tired of it! Might as well keep your hands to yourself.
Your companion makes it to the door before you, and you hear him pull it open with a low grunt. As assumed, it’s dark, and you try to keep your feet steady as you squint through the shadows while you explore. Your heartbeat feels a little quick right now, but that’s probably just the regular nervousness of running around this place.
You hear Grey open the next door as you press your hand against a desk to stop yourself from running into it. He hums and you see a light click on and shine through the doorway.
“Ah…” Your friend scoffs, “Hey, hurry for a minute, there’s a thing you can grab.”
You fidget with your fingers, pressing your pointer against your thumb, as you quicken your pace through the next door. Grey shines a flashlight at you once you step inside, but thankfully not directly into your eyes. He keeps the light pointed at the floor before tilting it towards a desk with a thick blue cylinder on it. An almost ominous looking syringe.
“…And what is it?” You ask as you pick it up and carefully examine it. It has a questionably large and sharp prick coming from one side. It… It looks like, really dangerous, actually, like the kind of thing used to administer some extreme steroids.
“Beats me. I’ve never used it.” Grey shrugs and shines the light down the hall again. You hear a quiet hiss before looking up to see your friend has turned the light off and a Squiddle grins a few steps in front of him.
“Huh. Really? I expected you to be willing to mess around with something like this.”
The syringe feels a bit heavy in your hand, but you keep a tight grip on it as you speed up to walk beside Grey as he hesitates to go around the tentacled monster. He grunts before answering, paying more attention to getting through the door than continuing conversation.
“…Don’t like needles.” He finally responds. Your eyes go wide and you hold the tool a little further away from him.
“You are scared of needles?” You gasp, earning yourself a glare through the dark. You quickly backtrack, “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it, I just didn’t… expect it, I guess?”
“Didn’t say I was scared of them. Said I don’t like them.” Grey says as he turns the light back one once you’ve past the Squiddle. Once again, the next room is dark, but this time it’s a very thin hallway with feint red lights along one side of the ceiling. You walk carefully so you don’t step on your friend’s heels. Yes, you could just slow down so you don’t stand as close to him, but will you?
Ha!
No.
“What’s the difference?” You pause as you watch the man kick at something at the corner of the doorway. It beeps before he tries opening the door; the next room has working lights again, but they flicker the moment you step forward.
“The difference-” Your friend looks around with a panicked sense of urgency. No lockers anywhere, “Can wait a minute. Are there any safe places in this room?”
Right, super dangerous death maze. You nod as the conversation is put on halt and…
pause.
This is a weird room. You don’t know if you’ve seen it before, only because there is an entire submarine peeking through the wall and you’re pretty sure that’s something you’d easily remember.
It looks like it crashed, very aggressively, even. It has broken through the wall, but at the very least the hatch does seem to be open.
The lights flicker again and you grab onto Grey’s wrist. It’s a normal action to take, he’s done it to you before.
Ah, but, actually, it might be something he’s only comfortable doing to others, he might be disgusted with you for doing it to him because you’re once again just grabbing him without asking-
Breathe. And move.
You look at him sideways and he nods. You feel a weak smile find its way back to your lips as you lead him towards the stumbling submarine.
“This… should be safe, I’ve never tried it, but as long as it keeps us out of the direct line of sight…?” You explain as you step with a hurried hesitance over the rubble in front of the sub. Inside seems surprisingly stable, undamaged, and a fair place to hide. Another exciting perk is that there is a medkit just lounging about on one of the seats inside.
You let go of Grey’s wrist (though you could almost swear that his hand followed yours for just a second) and grab the medkit. You smile back at him and his bloodied face and shoulder, so he smiles back with just the smallest shift in expression.
“So..! Let’s stand at the back, just until the angler passes by.” You mumble, looking over your shoulder at the open end of the submarine. Though…
It’s strange. The lights flickered a good few moments ago. Wouldn’t you have at least heard the scream by now?
You see them flicker, again, in fact, and it starts to feel maybe a bit too suspicious.
“I’m gonna use the medkit while we wait.” Grey sits down on one of the benches lining the wall and pulls the white box into his lap. You turn back to him and take a few steps closer.
“Do… you want help with that?” You ask, trying to keep your voice as flat as possible while you fidget carefully with the blue syringe in your other hand. Your companion looks up at you and raises an eyebrow.
“…Since you’re offering, sure.” He clicks open the medkit and holds it out to you. You take a seat to his left and look over his shoulder, sighing softly. His face is… fine. His lip has mostly already healed over and the blood on his face is gone for the most part, so now you’re mainly worried about the gashes along the top of his shoulder. You set the syringe down to the side and take the medkit.
“And you’re fine with me touching you?” You finally ask. You startle backwards when all Grey does is snort and look at you sideways with an odd expression.
“Yes, doctor, I am perfectly fine with your hands on me.” He says it like it’s something obvious. His phrasing has you pausing for a moment to get your thoughts back in line. But anyway, you sigh and move on, pulling the roll of bandages out of the container.
Giving it one more second of thought, you’ve probably got to stand up to do this. It would be awkward to reach around the oxygen tank as you sit beside him. Though… Ah, you’ve also just got to do that anyway…
You stand up and cast a glance towards the opening of the sub. Still no angler, but the lights still flicker. Must be regular broken.
Looking back at Grey, he’s watching you with far too much softness in his eyes. You scrunch your nose as you smile and tilt your head curiously. He blinks slowly and tilts his head the other direction. It’s silly.
But you’re supposed to be helping him!! Right!
You huff, bringing yourself to focus again, and slide your fingers carefully over his shoulder. He flinches a tad bit but turns his head away so he doesn’t make you nervous by just watching you. The silence feels a little too loud.
You clear your throat as you unwrap a bit of the bandage.
“So, what were you saying about the difference between being scared of needles versus simply not liking them?” You hum, pressing the edge of the tape over the pooling wound in his skin. The tears in his jumpsuit are starting to get slightly red-tinted.
“Mn. I can handle them. I just don’t like them.” Grey grunts as he continues to look away from you, watching the entrance to the submarine instead.
“Right, well, is there- Lift your arm, please.” You put a hand against his bicep to push it upwards, your friend follows your lead and does as you say, “Is there a reason you hate them or is it just… You know. Pricks in general?”
You start wrapping the bandage around his shoulder now that you can reach under his arm. It’s a little bit of a hassle with how you have to try and pinch it under the oxygen tanks, but it’s manageable.
“…Nothing good comes from needles. But I’ve seen those blue ones in Sebastian’s Shop so they’ve gotta have some use to them.” Your friend’s voice is quiet with a slight scratchy rumble in his throat. You hum quietly and tighten the bandage, eliciting a small wince from him.
“Sorry-” You start leaning back, your hands jolting away from his shoulder as if you were the one hurt. Grey reaches forward, grabbing onto your arm to keep you from leaning back. He’s looking at you sideways again. He’s got that… deceivingly sleepy look in his eye as he smiles softly at you.
“It’s fine. You’re just trying to help.”
He pulls you a little closer.
You don’t know why, but his hand slides along the fabric of your jacket and his fingers grip onto the collar. You laugh a little awkwardly and your own hands jolt to his chest to stop yourself from falling into him.
“…And… What exactly are you trying to do?” You chuckle breathlessly as your friend gives you a moment to situate yourself. You hold onto his shoulders instead, careful to avoid the new wrappings, as his hand moves to your jaw. “I don’t remember splitting my lip.”
Grey laughs through his nose while his gaze drifts impatiently over your mouth.
“Hm. Maybe, but it wouldn’t hurt to check, would it?”
Oh this is foul.
SO you HAVEN’T been imagining it all. Thank goodness, because!! Jeez you maybe were thinking of him a little too much to be entirely satisfied with just friends.
But even so, you’re still a coward, so all you do is tilt your head with a crooked, confused smile as you blink without much thought behind your eyes.
Grey huffs through his nose again before pulling you an inch closer and bringing himself the rest of the way, kissing the corner of your mouth.
He had totally seen you press your thumb in that exact spot.
Your skin burns as you lose the battle against the sputter that wages absolute war to escape you. This man’s touch feels too warm and too safe for it to be anything but true.
And his laugh.
Melted chocolate with how sweet it sounded and how you already felt hooked, but you heard so very little of it. Your eyes are wide as he smiles up at you with that dastardly smug half-smile, surrounded by the scruffy stubble that barely grazes against your cheek.
“I..If it bothers you… I guess you can…” You wheeze as your hands snake just a little higher, almost copying the grip he had on the collar of your jumpsuit.
You don’t get much of a chance to breathe after that, but you don’t really mind.
You kiss him back, easily, as he doesn’t hesitate in his pursuit of your lips. Grey keeps his palm against your cheek even when you do finally lean back, giggling in giddy disorientation over whatever… that just was. His tongue flicks over his scar then over the fresher cut as you mentally confirm that, yes, his lips do have a unique texture because of the wounds. Intriguing! Might need further confirmation, even. Perhaps even more after that split lip heals.
“I think you’re fine, actually.” Grey lets his knuckles burn against your skin as he slowly pulls his hand back. You nod and clear your throat, not able to meet his gaze.
“…You should still check again later. Who knows if I’ll have busted it by then.” You whisper, stepping back and gently pressing the pads of your fingers against your lips, as if you couldn’t even believe what just happened. (You can’t really!! It was so fast, it was so- so much. Not too much, thankfully, but still a lot.)
Your companion nods as he stands and rolls his shoulder.
“Gotcha. I’ll make sure to check frequently, then.” He says gruffly. Business as usual.
You laugh, shaking your head as you follow him outside of the beached submarine.
How are you expected to focus now??? That crystal seems about as important as the syringe you left in the seat.
Oh shoot wait maybe you should go back for that item, it might be important aaaA-.