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The manor has many odds and ends within its walls, without much instruction from Miss Nightingale, anyone is allowed to explore anywhere.
Though, there is one room that she specifically warns of, no explanation, just a single sign with the text “KEEP OUT”. It is a curious thing Norton thinks.
He once tried the doorknob to see if it works and it does. He ultimately decided against peeking when hearing Miss Nightingale approaches.
Since then, it’s pestered him about what might be in that room. Was Miss Nightingale hiding something? Are there dead bodies in there? That may be a stretch, but he will never know until he sees it for himself!
Norton finally picks today of all days to try his curiosity. He braces himself and shakily reaches for the doorknob.
“Aye, it says keep out don’t it?”
Oh brother. The self-righteous cowboy is here.
Kevin has his arms crossed and an expression that a mother would give their child that was doing something they weren’t supposed to. It unconsciously makes Norton shiver despite not even knowing his mother.
Norton huffs, “She isn’t here now, is she? What if she got something sinister in there, and I’m tryna save us?”
“Like what? What could possibly be there?” Kevin says, approaching Norton.
“Well, there could be bombs or, I don’t know, mines?” Norton tilts his head, trying to convince himself too. In reality, he has no clue, not even an assumption, that was the whole point of why he’s right here anyways.
“And what if yer wrong ‘n there’s nothin’ in there?”
“Then I guess I’ll be leaving this door alone,” Norton says dryly, annoyed. “But don’t you wanna know? Why so secretive about this specific room when everything else here is open to us?”
“Christ.” Kevin pinches the bridge of his nose. ”Ever heard of privacy? That could be her personal quarters.”
“Could be but why wouldn’t she just say that when we ask about it?”
“Have you even asked about it?”
“No, but—.” Norton hurriedly jangles the doorknob and forcibly tackles the door with his arm before Kevin can lasso him away.
“ Norton—! ” Kevin hollers, just barely grabbing onto the back of his suspenders.
But instead of being “inaccessible”, it just swings open, making Norton just barely fall onto the floor if not for Kevin holding on.
Norton is about to thank him for the save but gets dropped on the ground as well as having his suspenders hit his back. “OW, fuck!”
“What.” He hears Kevin say.
Norton gets off the ground and sits up on his legs, looking around the place to see it is empty. Except for a decrepit, dangling light and a single wooden table in the center of the room, which was, at least it was kind of decorated. The walls were painted white but probably with some terrible-grade paint since it was beyond streaky. Making it worse is that it is quite cramped; it’s as big as a child’s bedroom. The whole thing just feels eerie.
It all just sends them shivering, feeling a foreboding ambiance if they stay too long.
“Uh—.”
Kevin spins on his heel only to come face to face with the backside of the door. When did…?
Doesn’t matter when Norton rushes over on his knees and fiddles with the doorknob repeatedly, unable to get it to do anything other than turn.
“WHAT! What the hell is wrong with this—,” Norton angrily grumbles to himself, getting up to throw himself against the door, which still isn’t budging.
“Have you tried pulling.”
Norton side-eyes Kevin but goes back to his busy, even testing out pulling. Still nothing.
“ARGH!!” he shouts when he eventually gives up. He falls onto his back and glares up at Kevin. “Why do you look so smug? You’re stuck here too, y'know?”
“Ah, uh huh, of course, but keep trying to open the door? Maybe it’ll work this time.” Kevin stifles a snicker. “Wait, better yet.” He pulls the lasso from his side and dangles them over Norton’s face.
“I don’t know how to use a lasso.”
“It ain’t for you,” Kevin says while walking further away enough to lasso Norton over his shoulder.
“H-hey, WAIT! N-no!” he thrashes around, trying to be let go of. “KEVIN NO! ”
The cowboy obviously turns a deaf ear to his pleas. He sets his leg a fair distance and secures Norton by holding his knees to his thighs. He stops his tantrum to just accept his fate; he at least wants to be conscious when he’s thrown. Otherwise, he might just have got a heat stroke from the way his face and skin began to burn.
With Norton not flopping around anymore, Kevin chucks Norton, using all his might.
SLAM!
One body to the door later, Kevin walks up and checks on the dizzy Norton. The guy had landed in such a weird position, he was upside down and his head between his legs.
Kevin bends down on his knee and holds two fingers up over his face. “How many am I holding up?”
Gargles are the only verbal response Kevin gets. Could be worse, he isn’t bleeding but maybe he still went too far with this. Hopefully, when Norton regains consciousness, he’s already forgotten this happened.
Might as well let him “sleep” while Kevin tries to figure something else out. He drags Norton to a corner then takes off his sweater and folds it into a lump to put under Norton’s head.
Kevin inspects the doorknob to nothing out of the usual. It has a keyhole though no key to be seen anywhere within the room. Go figure.
Instead, he starts knocking on all the walls, listening closely to hear any inconsistencies, but it was all the same.
Well, time to try something more forceful, so Kevin ties a knot around the doorknob. He traces the line back until he’s reached the handle; a light tug knows that it’s secure. Though, no matter how hard he pulls, it won’t budge, even when he’s horizontally standing on the door and pulling.
Kevin falls to the ground and gives up on the idea. No other idea comes to mind, he lies on the ground and has his mind wander.
“Kevin.”
Kevin mumbles ‘yes’ without realizing that Norton wasn’t the one to say his name. He shoots up at the prospect of getting out.
“Yes?” he says hurriedly. “Miss Nightingale? Can you open this door? O-or do you have a key?”
“Apologies but I can not do much, the power of this room is beyond my control,” she explains, “the warning sign is placed for specific reasons that I can’t delve into. But, here… good luck…”
Under the door slid a piece of paper with neatly written cursive on it.
“Thank you, Miss,” Kevin says. Hearing her footsteps getting quieter and quieter, he takes a closer look at the text and he freezes in place.
The first line isn’t bad per se, but it’s not something that he really wants to do either.
‘Making out with the other person in the room will start a timer for a countdown for the door to open.’
Uh-huh. Kevin looks over at the unconscious Norton and shivers. Maybe he can do it right now and not have Norton know, but that’s kind of… iffy. Kevin doesn’t want to bear the guilt of doing something against his will, even if he did throw him earlier.
What’s worse is the second option, something that he doesn’t even want to read in his head, much less something he wants to physically do.
He gets goosebumps all over his skin, but if he wants to get both of them out, he’ll have to wake Norton up.
Kevin stuffs the piece of paper in his pocket and bends down next to Norton. He tries snapping right in front of his face though nothing comes of it. Perhaps a slap is more in order? He pats Norton’s cheek first before winding up his hand to smack him awake, but he chickens out. It feels too mean-spirited even for someone like Norton.
He skims over his features, studying the scar on his face. Kevin wonders what happened there; Norton was rather a mysterious person despite being quite loud. Has someone done this to him? Or is it by accident? In any case, Kevin leaves those ponderings for some other time and pinches Norton’s nose to cut off his airflow.
“Eu GH! ” Norton makes a weird noise upon shooting awake, hand knocking away Kevin’s. He blinks a few times to regain focus and looks around at his surroundings. “Ah lord, we’re still fuckin’ here,” Norton complains, rubbing his temples with one hand.
“Uh, yeah, ‘bout that…”
“Oh? You found a way out?”
“ Well. ” Kevin hands him the slip of folded paper.
Norton takes it and reads it out loud. “That’s it? Easy money.”
Kevin is taken aback by his nonchalant reply, he doesn't see anything wrong with this. His previous feelings of guilt are out the window and now he wishes he would’ve just kissed him when he was unconscious. Blegh, feels gross even mentally picturing it.
“Should I start or…?”
“Now hold on, I rather not let you take the lead for anything, much less this .”
“Have a little faith in me, Cowboy, I’m great at this,” Norton says while posing dramatically to sell his point.
Rolling his eyes, Kevin covers his mouth and utters, “Yeah, especially with the way the women would avoid you when yer around.”
“Pardon? What did you say.” Norton squints and sits up, hands behind his ear and acting like he doesn’t hear him clear as day.
Kevin puts his arms up defensively. and shrugs
“Whatever, but I want to leave as soon as possible so pucker up,” he says, making duck lips and going to cup Kevin’s face, only to have them slapped away.
Even with Kevin scowling, he relents, “Close yer eyes.”
Raising a brow, Norton wants to ask but doesn't bother and just does it. Apparently, it isn't enough since Kevin decides to put his hand over his eyes as well.
“Are you going to unzip your pants too?”
A swift force meets with Norton’s abdomen, shutting him up. He arches over and holds his stomach, drool falling out his mouth. His hand shakes, wiping away the saliva.
“I can take you on, you Cowbitch,” he heaves. It comes out less suggestive than he thought it would be, probably wah too aggressive. “Ow… God, that hurts.” he whimpers.
In hindsight, punching as a reflex is probably something Kevin needs to work on, though he doesn't feel all that bad after that foul implication.
“Just way down on yer back and pretend I’m givin’ you CPR.”
“Fine,” he gives in and lays back down, arms behind his head, eyes still being covered by Kevin. “But if whatever is observing us does not deem it to be ‘making out’, then I will be ensuring it next time.”
Kevin is unsure what to make of that, uh, threat? Promise? Wishful thinking? Whatever it is, Kevin ignores and braces himself mentally. Maybe a little too much to the point his brain hurts.
Without a further moment, he leans over Norton, though instead of intertwining their lips, he instead asks, “How long does it have to be to constitute a make-out.”
Norton’s speechless, he feels his breathing on his skin and wants to just get on with it, if he gets beaten in the process then oh well. Ultimately, he waits impatiently until Kevin feels ready.
“Fuck if I know. 10 seconds?” Norton is thinking of saying something provocative at the end, but he knows it’ll prolong them from getting out, although it would be hilarious. He grins stupidly at the scenario in his head, even exhaling some air through his nose.
“Yer sure gettin’ a kick out of this.”
“No, no… why would I? Nooo…”
Kevin sighs, enough whinin’, he presses his lips against the dry and chapped ones of Norton and spontaneously shivers, pulling back as fast as humanly possible.
After backing off, Kevin is surprised to hear nothing dumb or irritating come out of Norton, simply remaining silent. Now that Kevin thinks about it, he’d probably give him a look if it weren’t for the hand cover.
“Lick your lips,” Kevin asks and he listens.
Kevin grits his teeth and goes in for attempt two. Again, goosebumps cover his skin, but he doesn’t pull away this time, just bearing the gross texture.
They’re in that position for what it was like for eons. It was utterly unappealing and plain awkward, what a miserable time for the both of them.
Determined to somewhat mend this situation, Norton places a hand on Kevin’s shoulder, lightly nudging him to pull away and he does, but instead of fully parting, Norton grabs the back of Kevin’s head along with his collar and takes his mouth in for a better, more accurate kiss.
There are muffled protests from Kevin, but he already warned him beforehand, should’ve listened.
The kiss was sloppy regardless, but if it gets the job done then how bad can it truly be? Norton sucks and keeps kissing, encouraged by Kevin’s strangely apparent eagerness with his hand patting down to his abdomen and going somewhere Norton never thought he would touch.
Norton sticks his tongue in his mouth, or tries to, but he’s only met with a sharp pain to his dick.
He finally pulls away, letting go of Kevin to scream, “ OW! ” He cups his crotch and turns to his side, Kevin’s hand uncovering his eyes again. “Mother fucker! WHY! ”
Norton writhes around in agony before realizing that Kevin was covering his mouth, blushing profusely. Or he was fuming. Norton blinks to see which one it was. Kevin was shaking and… heaving? Honestly, he can’t tell.
“You look like you went through more grief than I did, and I was the one getting abused.”
Norton waits for a reply, but they just stare, so much so that Norton has to look away. His eyes were piercing.
Bzzzt!
Behind Kevin is a new appearing sign. Huh, guess there really is just a random countdown. What is more insane is that it says 100 hours on it.
“You’ve gotta be shitting,” Norton grits his teeth.
Kevin recovers from shock to see what he was cursing about and he sees the timer too. Why was it that long? Four days??? He turns his head only to have Norton up in his face, making him stumble back away from him.
A peculiar glint in his black eyes cues Kevin in on what going through his mind. This time, Norton can tell that he’s most definitely blushing. It’s cute in a sense. But arms on his shoulders prevent him from inching any closer.
“C’mon, you know we have to try if it at least works or not,” Norton says, giving a friendly pat to Kevin’s thigh.
“Get yer hands off me first of all,” Kevin scowls as if it’s supposed to be threatening, it’s more attractive than anything in Norton’s opinion. He takes his hands off.
“So?”
“I don’t know!”
But Norton does. “I can show you some proper techniques since you’re being such a prude.”
“Don’t wanna hear this preachin’ from a creep.”
“I’ll show how much of a ‘creep’ I can be if you don’t give a coherent answer.”
Kevin makes a small wincing noise. “Like you could actually do anything.”
Norton takes the chance to pounce, pushing then pinning Kevin down by the wrist on each side of his head. Kevin stares up at him with wide eyes; he’s unsure of what he’s supposed to do other than try and break away from Norton. It doesn’t go over well once he tightens his grip to the point of bruising Kevin.
Kevin tilts his head to the side and murmurs, “You proved yer point, you can let go now.”
“Let me makeout with you then.”
Cat must’ve gotten Kevin’s tongue cause he’s gone quiet. Typical, but Norton stays true to his words, despite Kevin still profusely trying to wiggle his way out under. Even trying to kick him ended in failure when Norton’s leg pinned them down too.
“Keep struggling, Cowboy.” His gaze is intense, almost being able to pierce his skin if he stares for too long. “It's nothing personal, all I want to do is to get out of this dodgy room.”
Kevin sucks up his pride and complies. “J-just be—,” he gulps. “Just get it over with.”
Since it’s his turn, Norton wants to take it slower; he kisses Kevin’s neck, going all the way to his jaws. The beard feels a bit tingling now that he has time to properly internalize the texture.
“Kinda awkward to makeout with you if you are not even letting me get a chance to meet your lips, wouldn’t you say so?”
“Shut up.”
Despite his rudeness, Kevin turns to face him but childishly has his eyes closed and his lips pursed.
“You need to relax, it is not that dramatic.”
“I’m letting you do this, least you can do is zip y-.”
Norton interrupts him with a kiss and tries again to push his tongue, this time with more success. He takes a second to breath and bites on Kevin’s lower lip then licks up into another kiss.
He breaks away again to look at the timer then nibbles and nips all over his neck.
“Enough. Enough! ”
Norton leaves one last big bite just below his jaw, later forming into a small bruise. Letting go of his wrist, Norton sits upright while Kevin props himself up with an arm and massages his neck.
“Fuckin’ God, my old dog could’ve done better job than yer sloppy ass,” he complains, “and get the fuck off my legs.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, least I tried to do something unlike you, cobarde,” Norton remarks.
“Comer mierda, Norton.”
“Ah ha, but you know that what I’m saying is correct.”
Irritated, Kevin grabs one of Norton’s suspenders and yanks it and lets it go.
“ A-. ” Norton holds his chest, slowly hunching over at the pain, unable to even make any screams. Kevin also takes the chance to side out under his straddling and goes to collect his sweater, putting it back on. Should’ve just let the bitch sleep on the cold hard floor.
He looks around to remember that the whole reason they did that was to test if their theory worked and… it doesn’t. Lovely.
That’s another one for Kevin to use as an excuse to yank his suspenders again.
“All that talk and yer plan didn’t even work, genius,” Kevin says pulling his back suspenders but letting go lighter this time.
He recoils. “It’s about the journey, not the destination. Either way, we’re still stuck here for a while so get comfy.”
“Yeah, from the journey you caused.” Kevin sits up against the painted walls.
“Shows you on being the ‘hero’, you could’ve left me to find out for myself, and look at you now,” he taunts, lying on his side, facing Kevin, “imprisoned with me.”
Kevin hits the wall with a hard thunk.
“Aye, we don’t need another guy with a concussion here.”
Talkin’ to you for this long had already given me a concussion, Kevin thinks to himself. It’s an unnecessary thing to say. He needs to sleep, not wanting to talk to Norton any longer.
“You dozing off now?”
God, he’s so tired. Why won’t he just shut up.
Kevin hears him hmph followed by rustling sounds. Maybe he decided to go to sleep too, it’s hard to tell when his eyes are closed.
A sigh then some final words. “Goodnight then, Kevin.”