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D3rLord stared into the reflective surface of the mirror like he could crack the glass with just the sizzling stare. Eyes narrowed, brows furrowed together.
Yellow stared back at him. Hot, bright yellow.
Everything was yellow.
It haunted him. Haunted his thoughts. Haunted his actions. Haunted his bone and muscle and body.
D3rLord shifted his gaze back down to his bare arms, heavy metal gauntlets abandoned on the closed toilet lid a few steps away from him.
More of that golden yellow, melting into a rich orange hue deep inside the sticky honey.
He traced a finger from his wrist up his forearm, methodical and slow, met with the slightest bit of sticky resistance the further up he went.
He felt the touch, unhurried and hesitant, he felt the warmth that his hand radiated, he felt the stickiness cling to the pad of his finger.
It felt wrong.
He could dig his fingers into his skin, claw at the thick material until it finally gave and broke, shredded into small bits and scattered across the floor.
Melty bits of yellow, more dripping and dripping into puddles onto the ground. His blood. Yellow, gooey blood.
But it's not his.
His body, his mind, all coated in yellow.
Shining, glittery yellow.
Yellow eyes following his every move, yellow tears running down his cheeks. Yellow tentacles curling and curling and curling around his arms and chest and brain, suffocating, filling his throat with more yellow-
His chest abruptly squeezed, stomach twisting itself into knots.
D3rLord gagged, wet yellow bile biting at the back of his throat. A hand rushed to cover his mouth as he staggered and leaned over the sink, free hand scrambling to grip the edge desperately. He pathetically dry heaved a few times, throat burning with a mixture of hot shame and swallowed down vomit.
It sneered in the back of his head.
𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤.
A cough choked its way out of his mouth, small splatters of gold hitting the ceramic below.
The bright color shined against the sterile white of the bathroom sink, like a hazard sign flashing in his face.
𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳. 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴. 𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸.
D3rLord barely held back another gag at the sight, legs trembling and threatening to give out if he stopped clinging to the sink like a lifeline.
The King was apart of him.
Not just permanently tethered to his mind.
But inside him. Like a parasite, draining everything truly D3rLord away until only IT remained.
Crawling in his stomach, breathing in the air being sucked into his lungs, inching through his bone marrow, melding itself to his tendons, winding its way around his brain, snuggling into all of the grooves, whispering into each crevice like D3r was nothing but a puppet to be controlled.
Maybe he was.
How could he know?
The lines between him and The King had blurred, yellow bleeding into gold, like the warm hues of his honey body.
D3rLord's breathing hitched, breaking into a weak hiccup that was surely an early warning for the tears about to start pricking at his eyes.
His grip strengthened to a hold tight enough to hurt, knuckles turning a paler tone. Eyes flickering back up to the mirror, wide and almost crazed, pupils small dots that wobbled as he burned a hole through the reflective surface.
𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 stared back. The King stared back.
He couldn't look at it. He couldn't face it.
D3rLord slumped down like a doll abruptly getting its strings cut, hitting the tiled floor with a hard thud.
Arms came to hug around his curled in legs, pulling tighter and tighter, just to get smaller.
He needed to be smaller. Hide from prying eyes. Yellow yellow yellow eyes that judged and laughed and ridiculed and burned.
Even if it was weak. Even if it was pitiful.
He felt his metal chest plate dig harshly into his soft stomach, forcing the honey to cave in slightly, conform around the unwelcome shape.
Would his brain conform as well? Let the slithering tendrils carve their own grooves, deeper and deeper, into the squishy organ.
Would it turn him compliant? Shut off his thoughts until he was nothing but a body being puppeteered around? Until there was nothing but The King left? Until he was just another vessel, foolishly led into believing he had won, but The King wormed underneath every inch of his skin.
Alive.
Breathing.
Apart of him.
A hiccup broke through the sobs bubbling out of his mouth, wet and harsher than a stab wound, yellow tears trailing scorching paths down his cheeks and dripping into his chest.
The crying broke into fragile choking as he attempted to stifle it, lungs aching at the lack of air his shallow and labored breathing provided.
D3rLord pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes, the unforgiving florescent lights of the bathroom still breaking through the darkness just barely, coating the upper parts of his eyes in a artificial yellow hue.
Yellow.
Yellow yellow 𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 YELLOW-
Two short, quiet knocks cut through the suffocating air, stilling the room like it had been frozen.
It was gentle, hesitant like the knocker was nervous they were interrupting something important.
D3r's thoughts sluggishly registered it, like the sound was trying to break through a thick fog.
He strained his neck with the dying effort he had left to raise his head, blinking through hazy, tear blurred vision at the plain wooden door of the bathroom.
He considered getting up, mulled over it silently for a few moments, a short groan following as he buried his head back into the comfort of darkness, or his hands.
More knocks, four exactly, rang out again. Quicker, the beginning of bitter panic leaking underneath the tiny gap beneath the door.
Then a voice, pitched a bit too high to be casual, but still clinging onto a semblance of nonchalance.
"D3r? You alright in there? It's been like... Uhh- roughly 15 minutes?"
Avery.
D3rLord recognized the voice instantly, even if his body and mind felt like it was moving at a snails pace.
Avery, sweet and caring and forgiving and beautiful and horribly timed, fucking Avery.
He practically scratched at his cheeks, desperately trying to stem the almost endless flow of tears, marking ugly streaks of deeper yellow onto his face.
"I'm- it's fine, Avery, just- I need a second-" D3r tried, keyword tried, to keep his usually calm voice steady, but it failed immediately. Cracking into a shaky tone, teetering on the edge of breaking.
Avery needed to go, to leave D3r be and just let him wallow in his own puddle of misery until he could just fucking get himself together goddamnit.
He didn't, couldn't, see him like this.
But of course, Avery seems to have a knack for doing things D3r doesn't want him to do.
"Whoa, I- You- don't sound okay, D3r."
D3rLord could practically see Avery's classic worried face, vivid in the muddy recesses of his brain, creased brows and mouth thinned into a line, could hear it in the way his voice stuttered between concern and confusion.
"Hh... Avery, it's 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦, really," he pleaded, sniffling and attempting a few of those miscellaneous breathing exercises he's seen, though it only served to clog the back of his mind with random information, breathing still cutting between shallow inhaled and exhales, and clipped gasps.
"D3r, did something happen? Seriously." Avery shuffled outside of the door, weighing his options silently.
A rattle.
D3r paused.
The telltale sound of the doorknob being gripped.
His breath caught, panic rising bitter in the back of his throat, ghosting the feeling of bile. Thudding heart beginning to ring in his ears.
"Can I come in?"
𝘕𝘰-
𝘠𝘦𝘴-
"Avery 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦-" D3r didn't even know what he was begging for. Voice finally shattering and choking on a sob.
For Avery to leave, for him to come in, for him to stay and not be disgusted by what D3r might become.
The knob rattled again as it twisted, breaking the confined tension filling the air of the bathroom.
Avery stepped in, eyes flittering from corner to corner like hummingbird wings, until those olive colored pools finally landed on D3r. Widening with heart aching amounts of concern immediately.
D3r.
Balled up on the floor, tears streaming down his face.
He must look like a toddler, unable to control their stupid emotions.
"Oh, 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴- Gosh-" Avery mumbled, stuttering on a sentence that never got to fully form on his tongue before it died out.
He stood stock still for a heartbeat, before quickly stumbled into a brief kneeling position a couple steps away from D3r, knees eventually giving and landing onto the cool tile of the bathroom floor.
His hands cautiously gravitated towards D3r, slow and almost fearful, like someone attempting to approach a feral cat.
"Hey, it's- you're okay D3r. I'm right here. Can I- Can you look at me?" Avery settled into resting one hand on the floor, supporting his upper body as he leaned forward, the other still hanging unsure in the air.
D3r sucked in a shallow, shaky breath that was more of a stifled whimper. Furiously rubbing at his face before he raised his eyes, shame and fear boiling hot in the golden orange depths, to meet Avery's anxious ones.
"Avery- It's- I'm sorry- You shouldn't have to see me like this, I didn't mean to... burden you or-" D3r hiccuped, voice raspy from the irritation itching at his throat.
Avery's face twisted from worry to this horrible look of utter sadness, D3r's heart curled in on itself, desperately trying to hide away.
"D3r, 𝘕𝘰, no it's okay. I'm- you're alright, it's okay. I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere, okay? I'm here for you even like this." Avery shifted forward to support his position as he removed his hand from the floor, reaching them both out again before hesitating once more.
"Is it.. Okay if I touch you? Just- on your hands." Avery sputtered out quickly, like the words had tripped over themselves while coming out. Awkwardly flashing a shaky grin, in an attempt of reassurance
He still got so shy over even small things.
It was enough to get a small, weak chuckle out of D3r, Avery's face lighting back up at the sound.
"Yeah... That's okay." D3r held out his own hands, feeling the heavy warmth of Avery's palms sliding against his. Fingers linking together like the small gaps in between them were made for it.
Avery inhaled slowly, purposely letting the short moment of quiet comfort be drawn out. Shuffling around nervously, gaze switching between their connected hands and D3r's face.
"Can you... Tell me what happened? If- if you wanna. You don't have to, if it's something personal or- y'know." Avery offered a half shrug, expression softening, and giving a quick squeeze of D3r's hands as silent encouragement.
D3r let his eyes sink down to the tiled floor, focusing on anything beside the worry etched deep onto Avery's face.
Focus on the warmth of Avery's palms, his own slime settling nicely against the sticky honey of D3r's hand.
The contrast of bright, fresh green against the yellow made it seem... Less scalding, simply there, like it was meant to be mixed with the foresty color.
D3r inhaled, exhaled, inhaled, exhaled, and spoke. Slow. Timid.
"My... It's my body. Or just- my... How I look. The yellow. My entire body is yellow. Like... Like 𝘐𝘵 was destined to be apart of me. It's not just honey, anymore. It was The King... 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 me." He shook, voice, body, trembling like a leaf in the wind. Fragile and easily... crushed.
D3r continued before more sobs scratched their way out of his throat, though tears stung the corners of his eyes again, making Avery's body form into a blurry green blob against the pale blues and whites of the bathroom.
"I'm- I feel like I'm not 𝘮𝘦 anymore. That I'm just some- body that holds this horrible thing. That I'm apart of it, that's it's controlling me-"
"Hey."
D3r's voice died out as Avery threaded his own in, feather soft and awfully tender, pupils wide and wobbly as he gazed at D3r. Love and fear and worry tangling together like thorned and fuzzy vines.
"If you keep talking like that about yourself, I 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳 I'm gonna paint your armor bright pink or- something." Avery stated with such stern stubbornness in his voice that D3r almost let out another laugh, though it came out more like a warbled whine.
"You're... 𝘺𝘰𝘶 in so many ways, I wouldn't even be able to count it. But every single aspect is unique, and beautiful, and I- I love all of it." Avery unlinked their hands, gently tracing his own up D3r's arms, the touch just barely there, but enough to almost feel more like reverence.
He gently rubbed the thick honey of D3r's upper arms, mixing small bits of green into the golden goo, breaking up the pure color.
It soothed some part of D3r's brain
𝘈𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘺, 𝘈𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦.
"You're not The King, you're Derek, D3rLord, my Knight. You're you in every way possible. From your legs to your stomach to your chest to your arms to your face-"
Avery was so deep in focusing on what to say, he hadn't even realized his hands trailed up to cup D3r's face, brushing away some of the slightly damp curls framing it.
D3r was staring at him so intensely. Eyes wide as saucers, like Avery was holding every star and planet in the cosmos in his olive eyes. Sparkling and glittering and twinkling all together.
As if D3r wasn't the sun itself, bright and alive and filled with something so gorgeous that it'd burn if he looked at him for too long, and he'd let it burn every inch of his skin if it meant he got to revel in the sight for a little longer, as if he didn't reach for him like a flower desperate for his life giving warmth, leaves and petals constantly wide open.
"Can I kiss you?"
"𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦."
Avery closed the distance between them immediately, like two magnets finally being allowed to clink together. Lips slotting against each other easily, made to fit and mold to the others shape, eyes fluttering closed with quiet relief.
It was almost shy at first, unsure, but Avery pressed against D3r. He needed to be impossibly closer, chests flush against each other and legs tangled like they were never meant to part, hands scrambling to be pulled closer and closer until slime melted into honey and the lines blurred into something gooey and tender and gentle.
It felt fuzzy, and lifted the fog in D3r's brain, replacing it with a hazy, pale green mist. Cool against his skin, mellowing out the heat of golden yellow, turning it into something pastel and plush and safe.
D3r made a soft, breathy noise that was swallowed immediately. Avery taking it as a signal to tentatively tug on his lower lip with his teeth. D3r opening up right after, almost eager. His hands coming up to rest on Avery's shoulders, fisting the fabric of his shirt.
Avery licked across the roof of D3r's mouth, senses flooding with that sweet honey taste, citrusy and rich in its undertones. Almost addicting.
Avery kept the kiss soft though, trying to nonverbally communicate the love that thudded deep inside his chest, like a bird happily fluttering and flapping its wings constantly.
D3r licked back, slightly more nervous in his actions, though he practically melted like putty in Avery's hands. Making pleased, purr-like hums.
The two eventually broke away, small splotches of green slime and golden honey coating their mouths respectively.
Avery breathed slowly, rubbing lazy circles over D3r's cheek with his thumb, leaning his head forward until their foreheads bumped together. Hair forming a curtain that blocked out the florescent lights above, their own little bubble of safety and softness.
"Better?" He questioned after another beat of silence, licking the sticky residue of honey off his lips.
"Yeah..." D3r murmured, purr rising in volume, "Thank you, Avery."
"No prob, Bob." A grin stretched across his face, dopey and adoring.
"Pfft- Idiot..."