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Puzzles was having probably the worst week of his life. He hadn’t seen WPNZ--his new boyfriend—in over two weeks because he had been off on an investigation, and then his father had contacted him asking if he would come over, of course the showman had gotten his hopes up and come over, hoping that his father could see him for what he had become.
It had gone very poorly, if you can imagine. When he had stepped through the door to his father’s home, he was instantly hit with memories of his childhood, but he had brushed them off and continued into the living room. Then he was scrutinized and judged for everything he had done to his body and what he wearing. Long story short, he had run out of the house in tears, and since he hadn’t taken a car, he had to run all the way back to his studio.
He rolled onto his side and scrolled through his phone, reading all the text messages he and WPNZ had sent each other over the few weeks they had been dating. He felt himself tear up the further he went. Puzzles was debating whether or not to bother WPNZ when he had just come home from his work, but he really just wanted to be held and comforted after the week he had had.
He scrolled back down to the beginning and his eyes caught the last message WPNZ had sent.
‘Gn puz, lv u <3’
A tear finally made its way out of his eye, and he felt as it rolled down his screen and seeped into his bed sheets. His finger lingered over the text box for a moment, his mind hesitating on bothering his partner. But isn’t that what partners were for? To comfort and be there for each other?
He sighed and started typing.
‘WPNZ, can you-‘
‘Can you-‘
‘Please-‘
He grumbled and set his phone down on the bed, rolling onto his other side. How was he supposed to ask for help when he couldn’t even figure out how to send a text?! It wasn’t like him to be at a loss for words, he, a showman! Can’t think of any words?! Unbelievable.
He rolled back over and picked his phone back up and clicked the text box again, slowly spelling out one word.
‘WPNZ?’
Then he sent it, immediately, the wave of self-deprecating thoughts rushed to him, was he being too annoying? He probably just interrupted WPNZ’s sleep, damnit.
He jolted as he heard the familiar ding of a message, and he hesitantly looked over at his phone, seeing that WPNZ had replied to him almost instantly.
‘wutz up?’
His heart did a little jump-stutter, and he stared at the message for a second, two, three…
‘can u pick me up’
This was stupid, he felt like a kid asking to be picked up at a party because he wasn’t being included with anyone. Ultimately, he didn’t expect WPNZ to actually waste his time on him, the assassin was probably going back to sleep right now, ignoring the complete waste of a person he was.
WPNZ shuffled out of his bed quickly, he was a little worried about the TV host, but knew better than to try and pry into it. He thought about him as he set his helmet onto his head, clipping it. He thought about it when he walked into the garage and opened the garage door, hopping onto his bike and driving out of it, closing it behind him. He thought about it all the way to Puzzles’ studio downtown.
Puzzles curled further into himself as he sobbed, this wasn’t fun, why did he ever think that his dad could change? Was WPNZ even coming? He hadn’t texted back yet, so probably not.
That thought alone made his gut wrench and he tightened his grip on the pillow. He would really need to wash it later, it was wet with tears and wrinkled into oblivion. Another minute passed, and he thought to himself, WPNZ isn’t coming… and sighed, maybe he could just try and cry himself to sleep tonight.
A loud bang on his door made him jump, breath shallowing in an instant. His phone buzzed and he picked it up, relief washing over as he saw WPNZ’s text.
‘m her’
‘*here :p’
He let out a small laugh at his correction, and slowly sat up, wiping his screen with the back of hands, hopefully making it look like he wasn’t crying a moment ago. As he stood up, his eyes caught on the bathroom, and his eyes lingered there before he made his way over to it, ignoring when his phone buzzed with another message.
‘Puz?’
He opened a drawer in the bathroom and pulled out one of his many razor blades, inspecting it, his eyes watched it before he gulped and stuffed it in pocket, accidentally nicking himself on the thumb. He hissed and stuck it in his mouth, and immediately taking it out again, gagging at the horrible taste.
Another knock made him jump, and he sighed, right, WPNZ was waiting for him. He grumbled and stuffed his phone into his pocket before walking to the front door, opening it to reveal WPNZ, about to send another text. The assassin looked up out of surprise, and he put his phone away into his own pocket.
“Hey, uhm... Ya good?” WPNZ asked nervously, yellow eyes staring up at the showman. Puzzles could feel tears well up in his eyes and he shook his head gently, a small whine leaving him. This was a stark contrast to the dramatic, over-the-top showman that the gunman was used to, sure he knew that Puzzles had mental issues, but had never really seen it in person.
WPNZ let out a small huff of air and gently grabbed the showman’s hands, leading him to his bike and helping him on. The drive to WPNZ’s house was deafeningly quiet, Puzzles slumped against WPNZ’s back, tears rolling down his screen.
Once they arrived, WPNZ got off the motorbike and pulled Puzzles into his arms, gently holding him. WPNZ thought about speaking up a few times as he carried the showman to his bedroom, but decided against it. He wasn’t entirely educated on the whole ‘depression’ thing, and he didn’t want to accidentally make things worse by talking, so he kept quiet.
As WPNZ lied Puzzles down and started to crawl in next to him, Puzzles froze and sat up straight, looking over at him in embarrassed shock. “W-what’re you doing?” He asked, internally scolding himself as his voice came out quieter and stuttering than he meant it to.
“Was gonna go to sleep, ‘n there’s no way ‘m lettin’ ya sleep on the couch.” WPNZ said, scooting himself onto the bed fully and sitting down, resting his back against the headboard.
“I could just sleep on the floor…”
“Nope, yer sleepin’ with me” WPNZ said flatly, sliding down and rolling over onto his stomach, grabbing a pillow and hugging it. Puzzles gulped and rolled onto his side so he was facing away from WPNZ, an ECG line forming on his screen, this wasn’t how he expected this to go. He thought that either WPNZ wouldn’t even show up, or WPNZ would let him sleep on the couch, not in the same bed as him!
To be fair, he did feel safer in WPNZ’s presence, but he wasn’t entirely keen on the idea of sleeping together in the same bed, sure it seemed nice at first, but once you were actually doing it, it was tense.
WPNZ’s surprisingly quiet snores filled the air moments later, as he had fallen asleep. This didn’t help Puzzles’ anxiety at all, did WPNZ sleep talk? Did he sleepwalk? Puzzles reached underneath his long-sleeved shirt to scratch at his scars. It was a bad habit, he knew it, but it felt calming to him, the roughness of scars against the smooth wires that made up most of his arm felt nice.
WPNZ shifted in bed beside him, and he curled his legs closer to him, not expecting to fall asleep anytime soon.
He looked over at WPNZ, who seemed… oddly peaceful. The assassin was curled up on his side, his head nuzzled into his pillow, and his head-cannons had slightly slipped off, allowing some dark-blue hair to fall into his face, making him even cuter.
Puzzles’ screen flushed red at that thought and he turned away from the gunman, gripping the bedsheets for a moment before huffing and sitting up, grabbing onto his arms and standing up, making his way over to the door across from the bed.
When he opened it, it turned out to be the bathroom, a small one albeit, but a bathroom nonetheless. He let out a heavy sigh and shut the door behind him, not bothering to turn on the light before he slid down against the door, his legs curled up to his chest, arms wrapped around them as he started to sob.
He was glad he wasn’t having a panic attack, at least not yet, because he would surely wake WPNZ up (possibly for the third time), and he didn’t want to bother him more. He reached a hand up to one of his dials, twisting it until he was fully muted. He didn’t really want to do it, but WPNZ was asleep, and he didn’t want to burden him with his overreactions. Muting himself kind of felt like holding his throat shut, it was tight, and painful, but he needed to do it.
He reached a hand up to pull at one of his antennae, making the thin metal scream out in pain, and he wrenched out another sob. He continued until he could feel the shakes racking his body, from the sobs or pain he didn’t know, and he stopped pulling on it, making it let out a relieved creak of metal.
A knock made him jump so hard, he almost fell into the sink, and he looked back at the door, hand quickly turning the lock on it to be sure whoever was knocking couldn’t get in.
“Puzzles?” WPNZ’s voice called quietly through the door, and his heart did a jump-skitter, a shiver running down his spine.
“no.” He replied quietly, shocked that his voice had come through, didn’t he…?
“Puzzles please,” WPNZ said, and the doorknob jiggled, showing that WPNZ was trying to come in. “Puzzles open the door,” WPNZ pleaded, knocking on the door again.
“go away.” Puzzles said flatly, leaning against the door again, crossing his arms over his chest while his legs stretched out, meeting the other wall. He heard WPNZ sigh heavily through the door, and he heard the assassin lean onto the door, based off of the thump.
“Boxhead ‘m not leavin’ ya alone in there, at least open the door,” the assassin paused. “Please...?” Puzzles sighed, fingers tightening before he backed up from the door, reaching a hand up to unlock the door.
Puzzles crawled to the other side of the bathroom, watching as the door opened to reveal WPNZ on the other side, looking worried and relieved. Puzzles buried his screen in his arms, not wanting to look at WPNZ right now.
WPNZ walked into the bathroom and sat down in front of him, eyeing the showman wearily before leaning forward to place a hand on his shoulder, making him flinch, but not pull away. WPNZ sighed and tugged the TV man closer to him, bringing him into his lap, and a faint pink blush spread across the showman’s screen.
“…ya okay?” WPNZ asked quietly, silently cursing himself for the dumb question. Puzzles didn’t look up at him, nor did he answer the question, he just stayed still, with his screen still buried in his arms. WPNZ mumbled something under his breath and rubbed the showman’s back, leaning against the wall.
Puzzles eventually uncurled from himself, but still didn't look up at his boyfriend, keeping his arms crossed over his chest. WPNZ noticed and looked down at him, watching him for a moment before leaning down to press a kiss to the top of his TV head, making the taller jolt and look up at him.
"What was that?" He asked, surprise filling his voice and screen, an ECG line forming under his eyes.
WPNZ chuckled and said, "What? 'M not allowed ta give ya some love?" Puzzles blushed more at that, and pushed at his face, giggling. WPNZ's smiled more at that, and he laughed aswell. "There's my little gigglebox~"
"W-what?!" Puzzles laughed, blush growing somehow more. They stared at eachother for a moment before burstin into laughter, and WPNZ squeezed him closer, making the showman squeak, and his entire screen turned red, so he decided to bury his flushed screen in WPNZ's chest, giggling.
WPNZ pressed another kiss to the top of Puzzles' TV head before standing up, bringing the showman with him as he walked out the bathroom and back into the bedroom. He gently lied Puzzles down on the bed and walked around to the other side to crawl in next to him, He was a bit surprised when Puzzles almost immediately wrapped his arms around him and pulled him into a tight embrace, the gunman's face bumping into his chest.
A light dusting of blue spread over the gunman's cheeks, and he looked up at the showman, seeing the peaceful expression on his screen. WPNZ smiled and wrapped his arms around Puzzles aswell, nuzzling his face into the taller's chest before letting out a breath, relaxing fully.
Puzzles was blushing heavily, the warm feeling of WPNZ's arms around him was hard to ignore yet it felt so good... he sighed and gave the shorter another squeeze before he closed his eyes.
A rustling next to him made Puzzles crack his eyes open, his tired brain scanning the room slowly. The rustling continued and he looked down, seeing the back of WPNZ’s head and his matted dark blue hair. He then realized that he was spooning WPNZ from behind.
He swallowed thickly, blush filling his screen as he surveyed WPNZ's sleeping form. The gunman looked so small in his arms, expecially without his usual helmet. He stretched his neck out to watch his expression, which was the same calm as the rest of the assassin. He let a faint smile creep onto his screen and lied his head back on the pillow, and his eyes scanned the room.
The walls were a light cream colour, which made the whole room seem just a little bit softer. There was a fairly big window taking up the left wall, it was closed right now, but he could still hear faint birdsong coming through it. The curtains were a light teal colour, and as light shone them, they reflected a more aquamarine colour onto the white rug and warm wooden floor.
It was an actually really nice room, he half expected the assassin’s room to be really messy, but it was actually fairly well-kept. WPNZ shifted again, making the CRT look down at him.
Puzzles smiled at him and lied his head back down on the pillows, squeezing the gunman a little closer. He didn’t really know what to do now. He had fully woken up at this point, but he didn’t want to get up. True, he did want to eat something, but he also wanted to continue snuggling with the gunman.
Maybe WPNZ would wake up on his own and get up so he didn’t have to. He sighed and buried his screen in the assassin’s matted hair. Maybe he would get to brush it out later, but for now, he would just remain awake until WPNZ woke up.
Around 1pm, WPNZ finally blinked his bright yellow eyes open, and he grumbled as the light from the window flashed into his eyes. He tried to turn around and avoid it, but found that hard to do for some reason.
“Good morning~” A familiar voice whispered in his ear, warm breath sliding down his neck, and he shivered. Right, Puzzles was still here, he had totally forgotten. His cheeks grew a light dusting of blue as he turned his head to try and see Puzzles, who was spooning him from behind. It wasn’t a horrible position, but not his go-to either. In fact, he didn’t think he had had such a good sleep before.
“good morning…” WPNZ mumbled, voice a little groggy from sleep. Puzzles gave out a small titter and nuzzled his head into the back of WPNZ’s, squeezing the gunman a little closer. “How’d ya sleep?”
Puzzles paused for a moment, then began to speak. “Pretty good, surprisingly.”
“Why surprisingly?”
“‘Cause, Y’know… things…” He mumbled, his voice growing quiet. “I don’t sleep well when I feel like… this.”
“Am I helpin?”
“Yeah…” WPNZ smiled at that, proud that he was able to make his boyfriend feel better.
“Ya want somthin’ to eat?’ Puzzles nodded, releasing WPNZ, who took that moment to crawl out of bed and bend down, picking up his helmet from the floor. A sense of relief washed over him as the heavy weight of his helmet nestled on top of his head, hiding his hair from view.
He turned back to Puzzles, who was staring up at him. It made him a little uneasy that Puzzles was one of the only people that had seen the assassin without his signature helmet, but he brushed it off as he guided him out of the bed, leading him into the living room.
Puzzles was looking around some more as WPNZ went into the kitchen to prepare some food. WPNZ’s house was pretty big, a singular floor but still big on its own.
In the middle of the living room, there was a TV setup plus a couch and coffee table right across from it, and another white rug underneath. The wall behind the couch was mainly a window, but there was also a sliding glass door that led to a balcony! Oh, he’d always loved balconies, but he never had had one himself. He walked towards it, peering through the door; not wanting to open it without WPNZ’s permission, this wasn’t his house, after all.
The kitchen was on the right side of the room from where he was standing, and there was a door at the other end of the room, slightly off to the side, most likely the garage. The door next to it was obviously the front door, but the door next to that was probably a closet, nothing fun.
He walked towards the kitchen and peered through the doorway, seeing WPNZ humming a song while spreading some cream cheese across the halves of a bagel. The weapon looked so peaceful,, like nothing could make him happier than being here. He surveyed the kitchen as he listened along to the song WPNZ was humming, he recognized it as Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue by Bing Crosby.
The kitchen wasn’t anything much, but it had more of a baby blue-cream colour combo instead of the white the rest of the house was painted in, the cabinets were clear, and he could see a lot of dishes inside, stacked rather neatly. He hadn’t expected the assassin to be this well-kept at all, it just didn’t fit in his ‘kill now, ask questions later’ vibe.
The humming abruptly stopped and he looked back over at WPNZ, who stood frozen, holding two plates, each one having a bagel on it. As for the assassin himself, his face had a blue blush framing his cheeks, his eyes wide in shock.
“Didn’t expect ta see ya there.” WPNZ mumbled, trying to make it seem like the showman hadn’t just scared the ever-living shit out of him.
“sorry..” Puzzles mumbled, ducking back into the living room. WPNZ followed after him, still holding the two plates in his hands as he walked out of the kitchen.
“Ya know, ya can look around, I don’t mind.” WPNZ said, setting the plates down on the coffee table. Puzzles nodded and sat down tensely, fiddling with his hands. He never knew how to act when at someone else’s place, it was always just so awkward for him.
WPNZ sat down next to him, relaxing into the couch and took one of the plates and started eating, seeming perfectly at ease. Puzzles didn’t know exactly what do to, the room felt too small, too hot, too awkward. WPNZ looked over at him, and, noticing his distress, slung an arm around his shoulders, gently pulling him closer to his side.
Puzzles let out a small squeak of static, and he blushed, embarrassed by such a small sound. He was even tenser against WPNZ’s side, unused to gentle touches like this. WPNZ rubbed his shoulder gently, and Puzzles tried to stop himself from relaxing, from being vulnerable in front of him, but he couldn’t for long.
He sighed and let himself be held, resting his head on WPNZ’s shoulder. WPNZ smiled at him, continuing to eat his food. He knew Puzzles needed some comfort right now, even if he didn’t exactly know what was wrong, he knew that Puzzles was feeling bad about himself, and needed some soft touches.
WPNZ reach over to bring the other plate over to the pair, and he set it Puzzles’ lap, wanting him to eat. Puzzles stared down at the food for a moment before picking it up and bringing the bagel up to his screen, inspecting the cream cheese spilling out of the sides before he took a tentative bite.
WPNZ chuckled as appearing at the corners of his screen before he took another, bigger bite. “Ya like it?” WPNZ asked, taking a bite of his own, cream cheeseless bagel. Puzzles nodded vigorously, a wide smile on his screen s he continued taking bites. “Slow down a lil, yea? Yer gonna choke if y-“
As if on cue, Puzzles jolted and coughed violently, trying to breathe through the food stuck in his throat. WPNZ startled and thumped a hand against Puzzles’ back, making the taller jolt forward, and WPNZ caught him before his head collided with the coffee table. WPNZ kept him upright with one hand while his other thumped against the showman’s back, and thankfully Puzzles eventually let out a finally cough before the food that had been lodged in his throat came loose.
“t- thank you…” Puzzles said, voice a little hoarse as he looked up at the gunman with a weak smile.
“Anytime, boxy.” WPNZ smiled, and let his hand on the showman’s chest fall into his lap. They stared at each other for a moment before WPNZ yankedpulled his hand off of Puzzles' lap like it burned, a blue blush framing his cheeks.
A matching red blush filled Puzzles' screen and he also leaned away, cover the bottom of his screen with a hand. A little steam made its way out the showman's vents, and he curled his legs onto the chest, hugging them close to his chest with one of his arms.
WPNZ watched him before turning back to his plate, continuing to eat his bagel in the awkward silence.
Puzzles also started eating again, being sure to actul chew and swallowing the food before swallowing it. he looked up at the TV, digital eyes watching it before looking over at WPNZ, who still had a little blush on his cheeks, his jaw working mechanically (get it? hehehe ((i am so lame ik))) to chew the bagel.
It was a little bit before either of them moved; WPNZ stood up bringing his now empty plate with him, and looking over at Puzzles, who had leaned against the armrest, his plate sitting empty on one of his legs.
"Can I take ya plate?" He asked, stepping alittle closer to him. Puzzles looked up at him and nodded, picking up his plate and handing it to the gunman, who took it, his fingers brushing against Puzzles' for a breif second beofre they pulled away. Puzzles mumbled a 'thank you'before WPNZ walked away towards the kitchen, his metal feet clanging loudly in the silence.
While WPNZ was in the kitchen, Puzzles sat up more, looking around the room from where he was sitting. He hadn't noticed it before, but there were a varety of blankets draped over the back of the couch, and he grabbed one, wrapping it around himself before leaning back on the armrest, snuggling into the blanket.
WPNZ sighed as he placed their dishes into the sink, debateing on doing the dishes for a moment before shaking his head and walking back into the living room, pausing when he saw one of the blankets on the couch was missing. He stalked closer and saw Puzles bundled up in the missing blanket, laying on his side with his eyes closed.
He smiled and carefully sat down next to him, not wanting to disturb his sleep. Now that he thought more about it, the showman looked really... cute? pretty? beautiful? He couldn't find the right word, but it was deffinately one of the three, or maybe all three. WPNZ continued watching him, even when his entire face flushed blue, internal fans kicking on the longer he watched him.
He glanced around the room before nervously leaning down and setting his head on Puzzles’ hip, making the taller shift underneath him, but remain asleep. WPNZ paused before sliding up his body, now his head rest on the taller’s shoulder, legs wrapped gently around his hips. He was trying his best to be quiet and try not to wake up Puzzles, but he felt like he would’ve by now by how loud his figurative heart was beating in his chest and fans were whirring.
WPNZ pushed himself up a little more so his head was by Puzzles’ next, and wrapped his arms around Puzzles’ shoulder, squeezing him closer, kinda like a lanky, tall teddy bear. He buried his flushed face in the crook of Puzzles’ neck, grumbling when his helmet made that too uncomfortable. He reached up and tugged it off, placing it off to the side before snuggling his head back into the crook of Puzzles’ neck, breathing deeply. Puzzles had weird, coppery scent to him that surprised WPNZ, and he took another deep breath, smelling a hint of orange as well (oml stop smelling him u weirdo ((I would do the same))).
Little did he know, Puzzles had been awake the whole time, trying to keep his face a neutral, asleep-looking face and not heavily flustered. He had not expected WPNZ to spoon him when he kind of fell asleep, he thought he would just, I don’t know, just sit down next to him?
He shifted again, silently accommodating the weight behind and let his body fully relax, and he could feel WPNZ doing the same.