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Scott took Jimmy’s hands in his and felt them. Both of them were caked in dirt and sweat, and both could feel the beginning of callouses forming. Jimmy’s hands were rough and warm, and Scott took his time raking his fingers over them, as if trying to commit every callous to memory before they faded. It was a calming break activity as they sat on the bench in the flower valley, newly-formed hobbit houses digging into the hills surrounding them.
“They seem very worked out,” Scott said, “for such a shoddy hut.”
“Hey, I still put effort in that!” Jimmy argued. He didn’t pull his hands away.
“Oh I don’t doubt that, Jimmy, that’s why it’s so tragic.”
“You’re insufferable,” Jimmy huffed, though a smile betrayed him.
Scott traced two fingers lightly around the base of Jimmy’s ring finger. “I wish we had rings,” he sighed, “then we’d actually be able to say we’re married.”
“Uhm.” There was a strange tone in Jimmy’s voice, hesitant and nervous. Scott looked up as Jimmy finally pulled his hands away and dug around in his pocket. He pulled out his hand and revealed two golden rings, not completely polished, but not shabby-looking either. “I made these while you were gathering resources,” Jimmy explained, picking one up. “I figured you’d want one.”
Scott took a ring, examining it. Sunlight glinted off it, blurrily reflecting the bright colours of the flowers. Scott thought they were the most beautiful things he’d seen in this world.
“So that’s why your hands are so bruised.” He grinned. “You hit your hand, didn’t you?”
Jimmy averted his gaze. “Only two times,” he muttered, and Scott laughed.
“Well, I guess we should make some vows.” Scott retook Jimmy’s free hand, caressing his thumb over it. “Are you starting or will I?”
“I don’t really know how it goes, I’ll be honest. ‘I take you…’, or something like that?”
“Okay, I’ll start then. I’ll just make it up as I go.” Scott inhaled deeply, and held up the ring with some sort of dramatic flair. “I take you, Jimmy Solidarity, as my kinda-lawfully wedded husband.”
“And I take you, Scott Smajor, to be my kinda-lawfully wedded husband.” Jimmy held up his own ring in a similar fashion. He smiled wide.
“In… sickness, and in health.”
“In sickness and in health.”
“In… life and death? I think that’s it.”
“Pretty appropriate anyways.”
“I guess.” Scott gave a resigned smile.
“In life and in death.”
“Forever and always.”
“Forever and… always? Is that part of it?”
”I have no clue. Oh, and ‘til death do us part.”
“‘Til death do us part.”
“This is my solemn vow.” With that, Scott slipped the ring onto Jimmy’s finger. It fit perfectly.
“This is my solemn vow.” Scott offered his own hand, and Jimmy slipped the ring on. Scott admired it with a small beam.
“And now it’s legally binding. You can’t cheat now,” Scott teased.
Jimmy didn’t answer for a bit, only looking at his own ring. When he spoke, he was quieter than usual.
“There- there’s one more step isn’t there?” he asked sheepishly.
Scott cocked his head. He had an inkling of an idea what Jimmy was talking about, but he decided it was more fun to tease him a bit first. “Is there?”
“The uh, the last part, usually before the couple goes back down the aisle, you know…”
Before Jimmy could say anything else, Scott leaned forward and brushed his lips lightly against Jimmy’s. Just a light peck, and then he pulled away, marvelling at how a small action could spread such a deep shade of red on Jimmy’s face. “Is that to your satisfaction?” he asked, grinning.
“Y- yeah, I’ll take that,” stammered Jimmy.
Scott smirked, and for good measure, he kissed Jimmy’s hand too, trying not to think about how it would eventually be caked in blood.
“Gently- gah,” Jimmy hissed as Scott pressed a cool compress against his burns. Scott gave him an amused frown in turn.
“If you didn’t want to get burned, you should’ve been more careful playing Tango’s minigame,” he responded.
“Oh, like Tango didn’t intentionally make that game to kill people.” Jimmy sounded bitter, but mostly exasperated. “You know what I’m like, Scott, there was no way I was surviving that.”
Scott started applying the ointment to the burns. “And yet you still went ahead and did it,” he said lowly, in a slight sing-song, “despite what I said…”
“Okay, you don’t have to rub it in.”
“No, no, I do, because otherwise it won’t heal,” Scott joked. “And besides… you’re going to keep hurting yourself.” He kept his tone light, but he couldn’t help but let a little worry slip into his words.
Jimmy fell silent at that for a bit before he spoke again. “What even is that you’re rubbing on me?”
“Aloe vera. I found some when we last visited the desert.”
“Grian and Scar just let you take that?”
“Of course not. I took it while they weren’t looking. They’d probably demand payment otherwise.”
Scott wrapped thin wool over the burns. It was a gruesome image, large splotches of peeling red skin sprawling over Jimmy’s torso and limbs. The sight was intriguing in a disturbing way, and Scott couldn’t take his eyes off it. So when the bandage covered up the last of it, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“There we go,” Scott said, self-satisfied as he secured the bandage on Jimmy’s back. He patted it a bit, which Jimmy yelped at. Scott quickly recoiled. “Ooh, sorry.”
“I swear, you’re going to hurt me even more.” Jimmy chuckled, reaching a hand to touch the bandage on his shoulder.
“No, I’ll be careful, I promise.” Scott laid his hand over Jimmy’s, and smirked. “Actually here, I’ll make it better.”
Gently, he lifted Jimmy’s hand and pressed his lips against the bandage. Jimmy startled and turned to look quizzically. “What are you doing?”
“I’m kissing it better, what do you think?” Scott lowered his lips to Jimmy’s wrist. “Am I making you uncomfortable?”
“N-no, not at all.”
“You sure?” Scott placed a much lighter kiss on Jimmy’s upper arm.
“I mean…” Jimmy shrugged, clearly trying to look nonchalant. “I’m not stopping you.”
“Okay then.” Scott moved to his shoulder. “As long as you return the favour.”
Jimmy’s face returned to a pleasing tomato colour at that, and Scott simply continued his task.
Jimmy hummed. "Man, if I knew this was part of the healing process, maybe I shouldn't be careful," he teased.
Scott tried to laugh at that, but he froze instead. Jimmy noticed and turned his head slightly. "Scott? You alright?"
"Please don't." Scott startled himself with how soft his voice was. "I- I know that's a joke, but…"
He tried to say more, but couldn’t, so he pressed his face into Jimmy's shoulder, silent.
"Hey." Scott looked up to see Jimmy turn to face him. Jimmy smiled, and all of a sudden Scott was reminded of how kind he looked. "I'm sorry, I won't joke about that kind of stuff again."
"No, it's just…" Scott struggled to compose himself. "I heard there's a lot happening right now, and I like what I- what we have here, and I just. Want to keep it as long as possible, I guess."
"I get that." Jimmy placed his hand over Scott's, their rings placed next to each other. "I promise to you Scott, I'll be more careful. I won't perma-die anytime soon."
Scott huffed amusedly, not helping his cynicism “Really.”
Jimmy simply furrowed his brows, and Scott softened again at the steeliness that overtook Jimmy’s eyes. “ Really .”
"Promise?" Scott looked into Jimmy's golden, glimmering eyes.
"Promise. And you have to as well."
"I promise, Jimmy." Scott allowed a smile. "Though I think I'll do a better job than you."
"What? Noo, don't be like that now, you'll jinx it. And after all the nice stuff you said!"
"You know I'm right though."
"You are not."
"Am too."
"Oh you- you are somethin' else."
"Sure am." Scott rested his head lightly on Jimmy's shoulder, looking up at him. "I'm your husband, aren't I?"
Jimmy smiled softly, pressing a kiss in Scott's hair. "You sure are."
Scott pressed a hand to his chest and felt how fast his heart was beating. Silence rang through his ears in the wake of the Dogwarts duo’s departure. It was a stark juxtaposition to the Red King’s growling tone and Jimmy’s biting remarks just a moment ago.
Speaking of which, Jimmy was crouched by the river, facing away and breathing heavily. Scott thought he heard him heaving. Immediately he drifted to Jimmy’s side and hesitantly placed a hand on his back.
“Are you good?”
“I—” Jimmy gulped, “—I think I need to go inside. The light, it’s a- a lot for me, right now.”
Scott nodded. “Okay, let’s get you inside.”
Carefully, they walked back to Jimmy’s hut, and Scott set him down on the bed, quickly pouring a glass of water for him. Ever since he turned Red, Jimmy’s disposition had gone down a significant amount, and Scott was sure the stress from the encounter had gotten to him.
Scott sat next to Jimmy as he handed him the water, and watched with concern as he gulped it down.
“Better?” Scott asked when Jimmy finished.
Jimmy nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Scott gently rubbed Jimmy’s back. “That took a lot out of you, huh.”
“I wish it hadn’t,” Jimmy huffed. “I wish I could defend you better.”
Something in Scott melted at that, and ached. “You don’t have to. I was joking about you taking on Ren.”
“But-”
“Jimmy.” Scott steeled his voice, and Jimmy froze. “You really don’t. They already see us as enemies, we don’t want to fan that flame any more than we have to. Besides,” —Scott turned Jimmy’s head just enough to look him in the eye—”remember what you promised? I’m not about to get you killed.”
He kissed Jimmy on the cheek, and Jimmy looked down.
“And I’m not about to get you killed either,” he said in a croaky, yet determined voice. “I wasn’t about to let them hurt you, Scott, and I won’t let them anytime soon.”
Scott inhaled, exhaled, and cupped Jimmy’s face, making his body shift towards him. “You’re too stubborn for your own good, you know that?”
Jimmy smiled, and really it should look unnatural in his current look—grey, ghoulish, weak, edging on malnourished—but Scott thought it was still as bright as ever.
“Oh I definitely know,” Jimmy responded.
“I’m not going anywhere, Jimmy. I promise.”
Jimmy then embraced Scott, wrapping his arms around him tightly. Scott returned the gesture, their faces buried in the crook of the other’s neck. Scott was amazed at how soft Jimmy’s skin still was, and pressed every inch of himself into it as he possibly could.
Scott suddenly felt Jimmy leave a kiss on his shoulder, noting that though he was cold to the touch, it left a lingering warmth. Then Jimmy pressed a kiss to Scott's other shoulder, and the effect was the same.
"What's that for?" Scott asked gently through a small smile.
"I just..."—a kiss on the neck, and now Scott's face was warm too—"I don't..."—one on his earlobe—"want..."—one on the nose bridge—"...to lose you."—one on the corner of Scott's lips. Scott took all the warmth in, held on to the feeling. "I want to keep you here, where you’re safe."
Scott's eyes fluttered open (he hadn't realised they were closed), and he stared into Jimmy's pleading red ones. "Only if you stay safe too," Scott whispered, "I'm all yours."
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
And Jimmy kissed Scott, deep and warm.
Silence rings through Scott’s ears as the dirt digs into his knees. It’s a cold night out. A silent one. The air is still. Empty.
The only warmth Scott feels are the tears streaming down his face. The only sounds he can hear are the little sobs he can’t bear to keep in. The flower valley is still. Empty.
The gravestone sits in front of him, unmoving and unfeeling, scratches barely resembling letters etched into its face.
You idiot, thinks Scott, and then he can think of nothing else. His mind is a misty fog. He caresses the stone face, gold ring glinting bright against the grey, imagining two warm brown eyes on a glowing face looking back at him.
Through the fog of his brain, he can only think of one more thing to say.
“I’m going to avenge you Jimmy. I will.”
Slowly, weakly, though he knows it doesn’t mean anything anymore, Scott presses his chapped lips to the rough stone. It’s all he can bear to do now, the closest he can feel to his rotting husband. He then sets his forehead against it, smelling the dust and the weakening scent of the flowers below, and whispers.
“I promise.”