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It was a cool night in the town of HeerTown, and a kind little scare-actor was sitting on the couch and eating popcorn while flipping through the various TV channels. His partner Kevin wasn’t expected to be home until much later tonight due to his coworker Rick not seeming to do much due to some sort of health issue affecting his fatigue, so Kevin takes up to helping the slow fella. Streber always thought it was kind of Kevin to work overtime for his poor friend. Kevin complains about it all the time, but Streber knows deep down he likes being able to help Rick.
Now, despite Streber loving Kevin to death, the candyman seemed… happier than usual. Maybe it was the fact he couldn’t access his ADD meds? The scare-actor didn’t know, but he was happy knowing that Kevin seemed to be happier without them. He decided a little while ago to just shrug it off and support the happiness to his best ability.
The peaceful, soft buzzing noise with the silence of the almost empty house was interrupted by the door opening abruptly, which caused Streber to jump in his place and yelp.
The last thing Streber expected at 8PM was to see Kevin standing there with the now-usual cheery smile plastered on his face.
“Kev?! But- but aren’t you supposed to be helping Rick at the Candy-Club?”
“Oh, he had to go home because it was getting harder and harder for him to move! I just decided to drive him home so he could rest properly.”
“Well, then shouldn’t YOU be at the Candy-Club?”
“Nah! It’s a Sunday, starshine, nobody buys candy at 8PM on a Sunday! Unless it’s at a gas station, of course.”
Streber cocked an eyebrow up at this but shrugged.
“Okay then, fair point. Since you’re home early, what do you wanna do, sweets?”
“Well, it’s a nice night out tonight. We could sit on the roof and look at the stars.”
That was an… out of character suggestion. Yes, Kevin has been off lately, but his nightly schedule never really went away from watching a movie or cuddling. Despite being weird, It was a lovely idea. Streber worried he may fall off the roof, though. Losing an arm was one thing, and not having both arms to try and catch himself just in case sounded like a living nightmare.
Streber sweat a bit and smiled nervously.
“Oh, Kevvy, honey, I’d love to, but-”
“If you’re worried about falling off, I’ll hold you the entire time. I swearsies.”
Streber giggled a bit at the last word the candyman had used and he paused the TV before sitting up ever so slightly.
“Do you really, really, swearsies?”
“Of course I do, you goober!”
Kevin skipped on over to Streber and cupped his face. He gave his forehead a nice little kiss, and then kissed Streber’s temple afterwards. This display of affection was enough to convince the Scare-Actor and he pushed Kevin over a bit so he could stand up.
“Alrighty then, to the roof we go. Lead the way, sugar.”
Streber kissed Kevin’s chin and the latter giggled at the nickname and kiss before he took off to get to the second story of their shared home. Streber chuckled lightly and followed the uniformed man. That reminded Streber that he should remind his boyfriend to take his uniform off at some point tonight so that he could still wear it tomorrow without it smelling.
Soon enough, the duo reached the top floor as Kevin was pushing open a window so that he and his lover could crawl onto the roof. Once the candyman had practically kicked open the poor window, he crawled onto the roof and held a hand out for Streber.
“I gotcha, Strebs! I’d never let you fall, I promise.”
The scare-actor didn’t even need any of the promises and confirmation as he used his hand to grab onto Kevin’s, who put a protective arm around his boyfriends waist to assure that he would have no chance at falling off the roof they stood on. The candyman had practically carried his scare-actor partner up to a corner of the roof that was flat enough to lay on without sliding.
Streber hadn’t looked up at the sky rather than having his face and eyes wedged into the crevice of Kevin’s neck and giving it a small kiss. This caused Kevin to giggle and blush.
“Streber, you goof! Look at the stars, they’re so pretty…”
The clingy male rolled his eyes and glanced up at the sky. Kevin wasn’t wrong, the stars were absolutely stunning but they seemed… more blue than usual. Streber never really paid attention to the stars beforehand, so he doesn’t truly know if they were meant to look like that or not... Either way, it left a gut feeling in him that didn’t feel right at all. Before he could go back to snuggling his face into the crook of Kevin’s neck, his head got nudged out of his neck all together so his head was laying on the side of the candy man's chest.
“Don’t fall asleep on me before getting a good look, Strebs. You’ll regret missing the good view! I swear, I think I see a couple of constellations!”
Kevin was making it tempting, but the amount of times Kevin seems to be pushing it was now being viewed as suspicious. Sure, it could just be the man's excitement to share a beautiful view with his boyfriend, which was probably the answer after all and Streber was just paranoid for no reason, but the scare-actor decided to just go with his gut for the time being.
“Eh, I’m tired Kev, It’s nice being up here though…”
“Please? Just once, for me?”
Kevin never used terms like that, happy or not, Streber was a bit confused and concerned for the fact that Kevin could be sick, or messed up in the head from something.
“Are you feeling okay, Kev? You never casually talk like that, it’s usually my thing.”
“I’m just trying to use familiar resources, that’s all! Besides, the stars are almost as gorgeous as you are, starshine!”
The compliment caught Streber off guard as the blood rushed to his face.
“Awe, are you embarrassed? You shouldn’t be flushed with just one compliment, hun!”
“Shut up, Kevin! It caught me off guard, you cute idiot!”
Kevin laughed and Streber sat up a bit. He cupped Kevin’s face and kissed him on the lips for a moment or two before pulling away to see his boyfriend smiling a little more genuinely than before. They stared for a moment or two before Kevin initiated the kiss this time, gently caressing Streber’s cheek with his slightly calloused thumb throughout the entire kiss,
The moment the kiss ended, Streber didn’t know how, but he ended up laying down on his back instead of being curled up by his partner. He was looking at the stars now, and he got that same gut feeling again before looking at Kevin. He planned on saying something but the words flew past his train of thought, and then Kevin spoke to him without looking away from the sky.
“The stars are absolutely precious, Strebs, just like you. You are my star, a guiding light for anyone you shine upon.”
The words were so… poetic. Streber glanced slightly at the shining night sky as every gut feeling and logical thought disappeared.
“...I guess I could look at them a little longer.”
Kevin giggled and leaned against Streber.
“See? They’re hypnotizing with their beauty, it's just another thing you and the stars have in common.”
“Kevin, dear god! You’re flattering tonight, aren't you?”
“How could I not be, Vampy? I’m here with my two favorite things.”
Streber felt a little dizzy for some reason, and he didn’t know why. He just kept looking at the stars while holding Kevin’s hand and giving it loving little squeezes.
"What’re your two favorite things, Kevvy?”
Streber could hear Kevin chuckle as his body felt tingly as if it were asleep and numb.
“The stars and my starshine right beside me.”
And with that, Streber lost himself hearing that.
Streber is gone.
Streber is reborn.