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There is a calmness over Martinaise. There are no strikes, no cops or company reps. A light drizzle of rain covers the city, there isn’t a bit of sky seen through the blotting gray clouds. It’s may of 50th year of this century. a girl is having her birthday. Or something like that.
Cuno had been planning it for weeks, skipping Buying drugs and skipping meals to save up the money, walking for hours to find the store that sold what he was looking for. He’d done up everything just right. The shack was more than that now, it was a party-shack!
The pig head had pink and blue streamers all over it, there was a cake and candles and everything. Including a few haphazardly wrapped gifts, this would be her first birthday here and he had to do it right. Cuno ran out and found her, his best friend C, messing with the gardener.
The red head pointed to another bag, the wind brundeled her hair swaying side to side, uncovered by any hat “and what’s in there?” The woman just sighed, clearly not interested in talking to her, no one was but her Cuno.
Cuno was behind her, “C! Come on what cha’ fuckn’ with the garden bitch for?” He didn’t mean for it to come out as mean as it did, he couldn’t correct himself without sounding like a pussy.
She waved him off “I’ll fuck with whoever I want to Cuno!” She jerked around to see him. Somehow she saw what he wanted, what he couldn’t express. What he could never express in words “But it is pretty lame, let’s go fuck with something else” she added quickly, smiling the smile she only gave him.
He sighed and smiled “yeah! Come on, Cuno got a whole fuckin’… lots of… well Cuno got a bunch of shit to fuck with!” He didn’t even know how to say it.
He grabbed her hand, somehow tight and loose at the same time, pulling her along, somehow gently and fast. ”what the fuck is up with you Cuno?” C asked with a happy laugh, it was like when he showed her to his favorite spots on the Shore.
The two slipped into the shack. Cuno didn’t say anything. Watching her face closely as she reacted to the surprise. Her face went even more pale, something strange filled her eyes and she squeezed his hand tighter. “C-Cuno” The voice was hollow, the bite was missing.
Panic filled him, what was the matter? Had he done something wrong? Why was she-
C pulled him in. Into…something. Neither really knew what it was, their warm bodies pulled together, arms kitted tightly into the others back. There was a name for this, you could look it up in a dictionary or ask anyone on the street. They’d seen other people do it, shouted slurs at them for it. But neither of them knew in that moment that they’d given each other their first hug. It was the most wonderful feeling ether had felt in a long time.
At some point they fell to the concrete floor, still clinging to each other's bodies. Boths whole beings trapped in a dance they couldn’t leave if they wanted to, and they never wanted too. After a long time one of them said something.
“I fuckn’ love you”
“I fucking love you”
They both thought the other had said it, and what they’d said was a thought, it made them hug longer. Their slightly wet clothes sticking in the damp room.
Eventually, very, very slowly they pulled away, just enough to walk further into the sack, onto the wood and in front of the cake and presents. Neither had struck the drugs yet today, or the day before. It was probably the soberest ether had been in weeks.
“Cuno Got the cake from some fancy shit place, thought Cuno stole the money,” he said it so proudly, wanting her to be impressed with what he’d done for her.
It was the prettiest thing she’d ever seen. *HAPPY BIRTHDAY C* in big blocky letters. She smiled so broadly. “Yeah?” She didn’t really respond, or hear, this was too perfect to comment on. his hands where shaking as he reached for the kitchen knife he’d stolen from his dads apartment.
She giggled softly, sounding more like the little girl she actually was and not the monster she wanted people to think she was. “I got it Cuno, I don’t want you to drop the fucking knife” she picked it up and sliced in, cutting the small cake into four even pieces. “There, two each yeah?” She asked, but she already knew who her second price was for.
So did he, but he nodded in agreement. When he reached for his pice he realized they were still holding hands. They both let go at the same time and by some miracle neither insulted the other for being gay or a pussy.
In silence they ate the cake like dogs, wild and ravenous, getting the frosting all over their faces and hands, leaving the silverware for the humans outside of NightCity.
Panting they tuned to the gifts. Cuno blushed, his pale cheeks turning a shade redder as he lifted up a light soft piece of cloth and wax paper. Handing it too her, “Cuno thought since, you know you don’t like to brush your hair, that… Cuno doesn’t fucking know why he did shit” he stops himself from explaining as C pulled the wax paper away, revealing the small ball of green fabric hidden inside. A hat.
Her long bony fingers pulled it onto her Head, pushing the hair out of her eyes she smiled back at him. “Yeah Cuno this is good, good job” he lights up at the praise.
He loves C. She’s his sister, his twin in every way but blood. But he’ll never admit it. Admitting would mean that once she was pulled away from him he’d have to deal with the loss. The loss of the last good thing he has.
She loves Cuno. Her brother, her Cuno. She’ll tell him that every day from now on. Remind him every chance she can get, so he’ll never leave her.