FellPoth Short Stories and One-Shots

Lean On Me: Chapter 2 (End)

Chapter Warning: Swearing

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"Because I can't even do something as simple as ride on a stars-damned bus without falling over myself or ending up in danger," Lotus glanced out the window to avoid Rurik's gaze, "I'm supposed to be your partner... we're supposed to be equals but all I ever do is- mfff!"

Rurik cut their words off with a kiss, holding the back of their skull to keep them from pulling away. He heard his companion grunt in protest, even as their body went lax against him and their sockets began to droop. Lowering his hand to the small of their back in case their legs gave out, the smaller leaned back and shot him an accusatory glare while panting, "Wha... th'hell...?"

"Your thoughts were being stupid again, so I distracted you," Rurik pointed out, glancing around to make sure no one would take advantage of the situation. Some people were still watching, but they were either shocked or embarrassed at his open display. A warning growl managed to avert the more blatant stares before redirecting his attention to his partner and asking, "Did I ever say you were pathetic?"

"No..." Lotus admitted sheepishly.

"Do you think you looked pathetic when you were preparing to throw down with that jackass? Which I'd like to mention was hot as hell," the taller smirked.

"N-no...," Lotus blushed at the bold admittance.

"Then you're not, so cut that pessimistic shit out," Rurik gently scolded, adding on, "Besides, you make it sound like I don't rely on you for anything; you know that's not true. Who always convinces me to sit down and get myself patched up after an injury?"

"Me...," a hint of a smile almost broke through, likely remembering Rurik's aversion to antiseptic.

Rurik nodded, "Yeah, and who cooks most of the food, always has the house clean, and always has the laundry done?"

"You do those things too," Lotus pointed out.

"Yeah, but you beat me to it more often than not because you're always on top of what needs to get done," the taller countered, "Also, who made me decide to become a better monster and holds me to it when I'm out of line?"

"Me... which reminds me," Lotus reached up and pulled Rurik's hat down over his face, "that's for poking me and damn near frenching me in public; don't do it again."

Rurik snorted, readjusting his hat back into place on his skull before it could fall to the ground, "I'll accept the kiss might have been a bit much, but I only poked you to get you down."

"You could have said something instead," Lotus pouted as the bus came to a halt with a tired screech.

"Didn't have a lot of time," Rurik reasoned, "the guy was coming up fast and you would've argued if I asked. I needed you three feet closer in case things went south; poking you was the quickest way to do that."

The conflicted look on his companion's face was enough to tell him he had won the round. "Alright, fine. You're right that I would have argued," Lotus conceded as the bus began moving again.

Rurik grinned in triumph, "I'd tell you not to be so stubborn in the future, but I like you when you're feisty."

"So what I'm hearing is you want me to keep being stubborn?" Lotus glanced up at him with a cocked socket.

"Damn straight," Rurik laughed, "just know when to accept help, okay? Partners are meant to watch each other's backs and pick up the slack, so we both need to unlearn all the one-man army bullshit."

"Alright, I'll try," Lotus sighed, returning his attention to the passing scenery. A block went by in silence before the skeleton perked up, "...wait, you said four stops earlier, right? How many have we gone through?"

"Uh...," Rurik mentally counted out the stops, a sinking feeling settling in him as he came to an unfortunate conclusion, "Ah shit..."

"We missed our stop," the smaller confirmed in an exasperated tone.

"Yeah, guess I got distracted," Rurik admitted, "we'll just have to get off at the next one and catch a bus going back or walk."

"I vote walking," Lotus proclaimed, "I'm tired of standing around, but I can't teleport us there because you won't tell me where we're going."

"I didn't want you tiring yourself out, plus I wanted it to be a surprise; suppose there's no harm in telling you now," Rurik sighed, making sure Lotus was hanging on before fishing out his phone, bringing up the browser, and handing it to his boyfriend, "I got us tickets to go visit this place."

Lotus read the site's information, his eye light widening as he looked up and softly murmured, "You're taking us to a botanical garden? Why?"

"Cause I know you like that kinda stuff, plus you don't really talk about your interests a lot or go out for yourself. The page also advertised a section where saplings and seeds could be bought, and you mentioned wanting to do something with the backyard, so I thought..." he paused, unable to look directly at his partner for fear of being made fun of, "I dunno, maybe we could make a garden or something back there?" Rurik felt a pair of hands cup his face... looking down, he registered the hard expression on his boyfriend's face about the same time that the hands began tugging at his cheeks. "The hell are you doing?" he finally asked when the action went on for more than five seconds.

"Making sure you're real," Lotus stated, continuing to tug and squish the taller face until he let go with a squeak, "Hiih!"

"Is that real enough for you?" Rurik chuckled as he gave the back of Lotus's tenth rib another gentle pinch.

"Fine, you're real; now knock it off," Lotus groused, swatting at the errant hand until it went back to holding him in place, "That said, I have to admit I'm impressed you remembered that conversation; did you come up with all of this on your own or did you get help from your work buddies?"

"C'mon, give me some credit; I can have good ideas once in a while," Rurik puffed his cheeks up in mock indignation.

"I know... I thought I'd ask since it's more thought out than I'm used to," the smaller apologized around laughter as the bus pulled to a stop. The pair made their way toward the exit as he spoke, "I have had a couple of ideas tossing around; this might be the motivation I need to start thinking about it seriously. We can walk around and see if anything catches our eye, then browse the nursery afterward."

"Sounds like a plan," Rurik confirmed, stepping off the bus and plugging in the garden's location on his phone's GPS.

Lotus latched onto his free hand, smiling as he said, "Thanks... I may have given you shit earlier, but I really appreciate this."

Rurik blinked for a moment, then pointedly focused his attention on his phone as he mumbled, "It's nothing." He shot a half-hearted glare at the resulting laughter but was unable to hold onto his ire as his companion leaned into him, pulling a chuckle from him as he laced his hand in theirs.

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Word Count: 1,217