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The sun shone brightly even from behind the clouds. A big, open meadow spilled out in front of you and 10k. A warm, gooey sort of happiness melted through your body at the sight. After weeks of city after city with nothing but bleak rundown buildings and the dead crawling around every crevice and corner, you were overjoyed to be seeing green again. You felt, for a moment, like this could be home. You turned to see 10k smiling brightly. His dark hair shone almost brown in the sunlight and you can see a tiny dusting of freckles emerging on his cheeks. His eyes were full of life, still slightly black from the eyeliner you managed to snag along the way.
He looked happier. He took your hand and started bounding up the hill; your hand was small in his and the way he squeezes it as you both reached the top made butterflies dance around in your stomach. As you reach the top of the hill, you spotted a fairly large farmhouse that seemed mostly undisturbed.
"Should we check it out?" He asked, grinning.
You nodded almost immediately. "I would kill a man to sleep on a real bed. I really hope it's not like the last place because I don't know if I can handle sleeping on a bed that once had a corpse in it twice."
10k laughed. "Hey, look on the bright side, we both slept in the corpse bed. We're bonded for life now."
"Ha. Ha. Very funny. You know, if the world goes back to normal, I'm going to need an excellent therapist."
10k shrugged and shook his head good-naturedly. "Who knows, maybe there's one roaming the world right now. I'll make sure you're their very first patient, sweetheart."
You hummed. "Ooh! I'm sweetheart now?"
You watched as his cheeks went slightly red; he ducked his head quickly, though, to prevent you from truly basking in it the way you wanted. He chose to ignore your teasing and instead said, "I'll clear the inside of the house. You check the perimeter and make sure nothing is going to sneak up on us. Sound good?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" You mock salute and pull your gun from your belt. 10k turned to you to roll his eyes dramatically before entering the house. You give the whole outside of the house a thorough search; you find a cellar and almost cry tears of joy when you spot many jars filled with a variety of foods. Most of them even still had a trustworthy seal.
You rush back to find 10k who looks equally as excited as you are.
"There was food in the cellar! Still good," you said, lifting one of the jars you'd grabbed as proof. "I am so happy to eat something other than meat."
10k smirked. "You think that's good news? This house is empty, like, completely. No corpses, no dead, nothing. I mean, there was a whole meal left on the table which may be an indicator of something, but if we ignore that part, only good news!"
"Hmm...What do you say we barricade the doors and have a nice dinner like civilized folks used to do?" You said, shaking the jars for extra emphasis. 10k immediately agreed, ushering you inside and helping you shove furniture against the entrances.
The two of you quickly breathe life into the home. A fire was lit in the fireplace, some old candles were lit and placed at the table. You hummed a song, low and slow. 10k slid over, taking you into his arms by the waist. He twirled you around the kitchen and pretty soon you were just spinning and singing without a single care. Any thoughts of zombies or the end of the world melted as he spun you until your feet barely touched the floor. Eventually, the two of you got back on track and set your plates down opposite one another.
You filled wine glasses that were stashed in a china cabinet with water from your canteens. You lifted yours, "to finding this little moment among all the chaos in this fucked up world."
10k clinked his glass with yours. "And to find this moment with the best possible person...cheers." He maintained eye contact with you as he drank down his water.
You felt your cheeks warm with the good kind of nervousness.
The rest of your meal was enjoyable; you cracked jokes and had desert (canned peaches with cinnamon sugar). 10k took the dishes and you stood to stretch.
"Wanna sit outside?" You ask. "I'm pretty sure I saw two rocking chairs with our names on 'em." You practically sung the words, and how could 10k say no to that? How could he ever say no to you?
So, the two of you sat, guns splayed across your laps and necks craned up to gaze at the slowly emerging stars. You watched closely as they twinkled; it seemed like millions of them. You knew the stars were just more alive out here, away from the city smog. You traced patterns with your eyes and sighed happily at the familiar sight. No matter how fucked the world gets, the stars will always shine.
"Isn't the sky just beautiful?"
"Yeah," 10k said in a faraway voice, "it really is."
You slowly tore your eyes away from the stars. "You better not be doing that cheesy thing where you're looking at me instead of--" The words stopped in your throat as you took in the way 10k was looking at you. He looked at you as if you were responsible for hanging every damn star in that night sky; it made your insides twist and your heart hammer against your ribs.
"You are beautiful," He said, confidence oozing out of him in a way you had never seen before. Somehow, he looked even prettier bathed in moonlight like this than any other way you'd ever seen him. You could barely process what he said to you.
It took you a moment for you to formulate a proper response. "Like, in a friend way?"
"Darlin', there is nothing friendly about the way I feel," His voice was low and you could vaguely register him getting closer. You let your eyelids flutter shut and your lips find each other; his were soft and slightly wet as they slid against your own. His hand found the back of your neck and he pulled you even deeper into the kiss.
It quickly turned frantic; he pulled the front of your shirt open while you busied yourself with his belt. Just as you prepared to finally indulge in your prize, you hear those tell-tale groans. 10k pulled away and sighed, scooping up his gun and easily burying a shot right in its head. "Two thousand, six hundred and nine," he whispers to himself. "Sorry about that. That son of a bitch really ruined our moment, huh?" He scratched at the back of his neck and seemed genuinely disappointed. The action lifted his shirt just so and revealed just the right amount of his torso.
You couldn't tell if the sight of 10k with his pants undone, holding a literal smoking gun and showing off that little bit of stomach should have turned you on as much as it did. But you were certain that the image would live on in your mind forever. "Maybe we should put up a fence. It'll keep them out next time," you said, hoping that 10k didn't catch you practically drooling over him.
He cocked his eyebrow, a grin slowly forming on his face. "I like the sound of a next time. You really want to stay here?" His gun was propped back up before he caged you in with his arms. Those beautiful green eyes shimmered in the starlight and you couldn't help but get lost in them. All you could do was nod. "I kinda like that idea. I don't mind the thought of staying here with you. Maybe we'll be the first people to die of old age."
"I mean, you probably wouldn't get to 10k," you said, feeling guilty that you may rip him away from his goal. You knew what it meant to him and you knew he needed that sense of purpose; that goal to constantly keep him getting up and fighting. Maybe it was entirely selfish and arrogant, but you wanted to be that for him. You knew you could be that for him.
He shrugged. "I can still get to ten thousand. I'll just shoot em from our porch," he said flippantly, but could tell that answer didn't please you. He continued, "it's fine if I don't kill ten thousand zombies. Having you by my side, that's what I really care about." He let out a soft breath and rubbed his finger against you cheek. "Think of it this way: it's about time I got a real name. In fact, I was heavily considering Jeff."
You snorted. "Absolutely not. I am not moaning Jeff."
He smiled like the cat who got the cream. It seemed to take a weight of his shoulder to see that you cracked a small smile "Oh yeah? So, what I'm hearing is, you're going to be moaning my name. Guess I really gotta find a good one now."
"I love you," You said. It just fell from your lips, smooth and natural like you had been saying it to him from the very beginning. It took him by surprise and he absolutely beams at you before lifting you up into his arms and rushing back into the house with you. He apologized bashfully as he had to set you down in order to re-barricade the door. You giggled and he kissed you like he wanted to drink down every sound.
"I love you, too."