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Gustavo stirs awake and slowly realizes he isn't in his own home. He turns to notice a thrashing Peppino quickly realizes he's probably having a nightmare.
Gustavo immediately tries to wake up Peppino. He eventually jolts awake.
"Peppino are you okay? You seemed to be having a nightmare." Peppino knows Gustavo is saying something but he can't process it at all.
Reaching up to grab his hair tightly and starting to sob.
"Woah woah woah heyyyyy."
Gustavo tries to get him to stop pulling his hair but Peppino is paying him no mind.
"Take a deep breath please Pepp-" Peppino grabs Gustavo and kisses him hard.
Peppino and Gustavo have been dating for a bit but haven’t kissed until now they were taking it very slow, in fact Gustavo had to insist that they could sleep in the same bed.
At any other time Gus would have been excited to kiss Peppino but right now it was strange so Gustavo just kinda froze up.
Peppino breaks down harder when he stops kissing Gustavo. “I’m-a so sorry I shouldn’t have-”
“Hey hey hey it’s okay please follow my breathing” Gustavo does deep breaths and Peppino follows suit.
After a while Peppino seems to calm down a bit.
"I'm gonna go get you some water if that's okay?" Peppino weakly nodded not wanting to say he wanted Gus to stay.
Gus comes back and hands Peppino some water which he drinks and then puts down to hug Gustavo.
Gustavo lets out a surprised noise but wraps his arms around Peppino and gently rubs his back.
Peppino slowly starts to cry again Gustavo shushes him.
"S-stay…" Peppino finally gets the courage to say "I-a can't-I-a can't lose you"
"Peppino…" Gustavo breathes
"Please-please-a" Peppino hugs a bit harder
"I'm not going anywhere I promise" Gustavo rests his head on Peppino's shoulder
When finally Peppino lets go Gustavo asks "If you don't mind me asking what was your nightmare about it might help you get it off your mind"
Peppino sighs but begins to explain…
When you make it to Pillar John after all your running you usually like to wait a second to take in that the easy part's over.
Sometimes you can't do this because you're going too fast but right now you can.
…Okay enough waiting you run up to him and punch him.
You speed through the level trying to make it back to the door, Gustavo eventually joining you…but you don't go fast enough.
The timer runs out and Pizzaface is chasing both of you…he catches Gustavo.
You know there's nothing you can do but you want to turn back, you want to save Gustavo.
But he's gone and you wish you were too.
Gustavo doesn't say anything for a while to process Peppino's dream.
Peppino nervously plays with his hands.
"That's-a been a recurring nightmare too" Peppino explains
Gustavo grabs Peppino’s hand and holds it gently
“It-a first happened the night after you asked me out.” Peppino continues “I was-a so afraid of losing you I could never convince myself to be affectionate with you…even if I really wanted to.”
Gustavo looks at Peppino and rubs his hand with his thumb.
“Is that why you didn’t kiss me until now?” Gustavo askes and regrets asking as soon as it out his mouth
Peppino sighs “...I wanted our first kiss to be better I’m-a sorry”
“No no no I was just wondering I shouldn’t have asked.”
Peppino and Gustavo sit in silence for a minute before Gus pipes up again “...I still haven’t kissed you…We can try again if you want.”
Peppino doesn’t respond but he leans in and Gustavo follows
The kiss is gentle and ends quickly and they sit in silence for a second before Peppino grabs Gustavo's face and pulls him into a harder second kiss. Gustavo grabs Peppino's shoulders for balance, tightly gripping them. They end the kiss both panting.
"Sorry was-a that too much?" Peppino asks
Gustavo feels like he's floating on the air but tries to keep himself for Peppino "No not at all! It was fine!" He responds
Peppino gives a slight smile before falling on the bed and sighing. Gustavo joins him, placing a hand on his face and rubbing it with his thumb.
"It's-a been a long night" Peppno says "More than just this but every night for the past couple of months."
"I promise I'll be here when you wake up" Gustavo responds
Peppino hugs him and rests his head on his shoulder.
Maybe tomorrow will be alright