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"It's all over my shoe!" a panicked voice echoed through one of the long hallways of the Marrow. It sounded annoyed and disgusted. As was the face of its owner, Stefano Valentini, the best (and the only) artist of the Union. He was trying his best to avoid puddles of weird white goo, that seemed to be dripping from the walls. What started as graceful, dance-like movements around the puddles quickly turned into desperate jumps from one safe spot to another. Until he finally missed and half of his right shoe submerged into the whiteness. Sebastian hid a satisfied chuckle by pretending to cough. Around the time he cracked the third zombie head open with his foot he stopped thinking about what he was stepping on, unless in was noisy. Stefano clearly didn’t have the same kind of policy. With his face pale he tried to keep balance on his left foot on a tiny clean spot of the hallway. His right leg was raised up to his maximum as the artist attempted to make sure that his luxurious piece of footwear could still be saved.
“Your artwork gets you covered in blood almost every time, what’s the problem now?” Sebastian asked, catching Stefano by the elbow as he was about to fall. “You sew together body parts and some other... things. Shouldn’t you be like immune or something?”
“This... This... I don’t know what this is, but it’s different.” Stefano sighed in frustration.
“Oh, I think this is-“
“Stop! I don’t want to know. It’s disgusting! And dirty!” Stefano exclaimed pulling a piece of cloth from the air as he usually did with his knife and camera. He proceeded to clean his shoe with unnatural for him nervousness, hands shaking, pose almost comical. Sebastian watched the procedure over his shoulder, holding him firmly with both of his hands. Standing so close he could smell some kind fancy perfume and could clearly feel Stefano’s increased heart beat, squeezing his chest gently with his left hand. His right hand rested on Stefano’s side, just above the hip. Sebastian licked his lips nervously. It still felt a bit weird touching his former enemy like that. At first they were brought together by the terrors of STEM and closely related goals.
Stefano, after the near death experience, just wanted to get out in the real world. His power over the Union seemed to lessen, the camera didn't work nearly as efficient as it used to. He was no longer able to create his "eternal" art. Sebstian noticed that waking up from a coma-like state made him a tiny bit more interested in the art of life. Sometimes behind his eccentric attitude he could see a tired man. Feeling his heart race reminded him once again that this flamboyant murderous photographer was just another fragile human being, nervous, bothered by fears and doubts, wanting to feel loved, to be held by someone.
Sebastian’s plan to “a) save Lily. b) escape” was soon expanded to “c) ... and take this lovely bastard with us.” Their odd but nontheless close relashionship helped him in staying sane, reminded him to stay human in both his mind and apperance. Stefano always made sure that after a hours of fighting through hordes of former Union citizens his lover does not look like one of them.
“Ohhhh, no.” Stefano moaned after looking forward and seeing the never-ending sea of the white substance. His face tunred even more nauseated as carefully tossed the now dirty cloth into it and watched it completely soak in mere moments. He turned his head to Sebastian, leg still in the air. “I’m afraid, the only option for me now is to catch a ride, detective.”
“Yeah... Wait, wha-“ Before Sebastian could think the words over, Stefano put both hands on his shoulders and swung his other leg up. Sebastian's instincts to catch him immediately kicked in.
“What the fuck, you bastard?!” Sebastian shouted in both anger and surprise. “I did not agree-“
“Shhhh,” Stefano pressed his gloved fingertip over his lover’s lips and licked his own a little nervously. “No need to be so angry. I’ll pay you for your services fairly.”
"Wait a second, can't you just teleport your way through?" Sebastian asked, annoyed by seemingly easier solution not being used.
"I can't "teleport" if I don't know what the end point of it looks like. What if I end up in the middle of this ocean and still end up covered with this substance. But, please, for now let’s get as far away from this stuff as possible, okay?"
“Sure.” Sebastian huffed giving up. He could feel his the other’s warmth shift around, his muscles tighten and relax a lot as he was getting comfortable. His weight wasn’t too unusual since he already got to carry him once, after almost killing him, to the nearest safe house. But that time he didn’t wiggle around nearly as much. Finally Stefano got comfortable enough, wrapped his arm around Sebastian’s neck and pointed at the door in the end of the hallway. “Let’s go!”
Growling the detective started walking through the field of white goo. The man in his arms smiled coyly and his only eye narrowed as he slowly run his thumb up and down his carrier’s neck. Sebastian swallowed looking down at him. But immediately had to turn his gaze up to kick open the door. Unfortunately for him the goo here was covering the walls and the floor even more intensely. He felt Stefano shiver and turn his head so his area of sight would include only his shoulder.
“Come on, Mr. Valentini, you’re a big boy.” Sebastian chuckled. “What is do scarry about it? You can take seeing something not so artsy.”
“Artsy.” Stefano frowned. “Your simple mind just can’t come up with something more complex, does it?”
“Like?”
“Artistic, at least. Artful maybe?”
“I don’t think artful is the right word here.”
“Really? Oh, fine.” Stefano shrugged and then remembered Sebastian’s original question. “In any case this white... liquid?... I just can’t help myself. I’m so disgusted by it that I feel physically sick. Blood... Blood can be astonishingly beautiful if captured in the right way. And it doesn’t feel dirty. And you know, I’m usually quite strict when it comes to being clean.”
“Yeah, I noticed.” Sebastian smiled at him and kicked another door. “I don’t really care that much-“
He stopped and suddenly ducked, dragging Stefano down.
“What-“ Stefano started.
“Shush.”
As he turned his head he realized what the other was referring to. A huge monstrosity oozing with white goo was situated in the corner of the room. It wasn’t looking their way just yet but it’s head was slowly turning. Sebastian quickly moved to cover behind the pillar. Stefano’s stomach turned and he inhaled deeply but quietly to calm himself down. It didn’t help and he soon realizes that his breathing was fast and sharp and he couldn’t slow it down. His vision got blurry and sounds dialed down. He rarely got to this point. Stefano growled in frustration. “Pathetic,” he thought anxiously, his face burning with shame of being unable to control his onw body. “What a pathetic philistine I am right now... Making him see me like this... ”
When Sebastian looked down he saw panic in the artist's bright blue eye. His gaze was unfocused and seemed to forget how to breathe correctly. Sebastian froze in place not knowing what to do. He had never had to truely deal with something like this before. Panic attacks weren't rare at his former job but these were taken care of by police phycologists or his female collegues. Someone like Stefano never seemed likely of having a problem of this kind.
"Hey, I'll get us out of here as soon as possible." He whispered, placing a gentle kiss on Stefano's forehead. He checked on the white creature but it didn’t seem to notice them yet. He looked at the only other door in the room, there was no cover on the way there. The distance was too long for them to avoid getting noticed. The only way for him was to make a run for it. With a shaking full grown man in his arms.
“We are fucked.” He thought stroking shivering Stefano’s shoulder gently without any idea what to do now. The grip on his neck tightened as Stefano raises his torso, almost pressed his lips to Sebastian’s ear and said, in a trembling whisper. “I c-can freeze him. Don’t know for how-how long. You’ll just need to-to put me on the... ground for a moment.”
“Are you sure?” Whispered Sebastian back. “It is still not clean here.”
“Yes-yes.” Stefano nodded fitfully trying not to look at the floor. “Just-just let’s get this over with, o-okay?”
“Okay.” Sebastian waited for the photographer to produce his camera from the air, which took him several seconds. Stefano turned it on and lovingly circled his finger around the button, somewhat calming down. “My name is Stefano Valentini, for fuck’s sake.” He mumbled to himself, shutting his eyes as he stepped on the squishy ground. “I won't let this take me down!” He almost roared with growing confidence as he captured the monster with his camera, trapping it in its field. As soon as the deed was done his legs shook. Sebastian was quick to catch him and pull up into safety of his arms.
“And now when I solved the problem, let’s leave this filthy place!” He announced, voice weak but face glowing with usual pride. “Before I throw up, that is!”
Sebastian did as he was told, crossing the open space and taking a swing at the doors to safety.
In a few more minutes, they got to the safe room, where the goo was unable to reach even their sight. Sebastian was ready to get rid of the weight on his shoulders, but the weight didn’t seem to care. The artist seemed to fully come to his senses and now felt nice and cosy, hugging his favourite masterpiece tightly and placing a kiss right under the scar of his own making. With a sly look back on his face he slowly licked the entirety of Sebastian’s lower lip. His own lips then brushed against it teasingly. “Oh, how wonderful composition we make right now. The most gorgeous artist in his sparkling knight’s embrace. Some may say it’s quite dated but I say it is classic.”
“It’s “the knight in shining armor”, actually.” Sebastian sighed in relief, seeing his lover back to normal. He pressed him against the wall grabbing him by the thighs and giving enough balance to throw legs around his hips. Stefano was about to give him a proper kiss but was quickly stopped. Sebastian loosened Stefano's scarf and kissed his way up his neck to the jaw and then to his check bone and back down. The amused artist chuckled as his lover’s lips and then tongue tickled the most sensitive spot on his neck. He took off his gloves to brush through the mess Sebastian called hair.
“Why so eager...” He moaned feeling teeth biting carefully on his neck. "... all of the sudden?"
“I want my payment for the ride.”