Purple And Yellow

Chapter 17

'John and Wilbur got captured by Blinky.'
Curt and Owen stared up at Xander, their eyes agape.
'What?' Owen said quietly.
'You know I wouldn't ask you to go back there if I had any other option.'
Owen stood up. 'But we can't. Curt-'
Then Curt stood up. 'We'll go.'
Owen sighed. 'Curt, you can't-'
'What did we talk about last night?'
Owen looked up to the ceiling and inhaled slowly. 'Fine. Fine. We will go.'
'Thanks,' Xander said.

'Didn't think we'd ever be seeing this place again,' Owen said as they got out the car.
'Neither did I,' Curt said.
'I'll stay here and make sure the gates don't shut. Call me if you need anything,' Xander said.
The two nodded and started to walk into the park, both shivering as they did. Instantly, a swarm of sniggles surrounded them, moving in closer until Curt and Owen couldn't move.
'Fuck off!' Owen said.
They did not.
Curt sighed, 'Owen, do you trust me?'
'What are you talking about? Of course I do.'
'Then just go with it. And I'm sorry.'
'What f-'
'I should never have helped you escape that place,' he shouted, making the sniggles laugh and start to move away.
'I wish you hadn't either. I was better off down there.'
They kept laughing and moved even more, clearing a path toward the room Owen recognised as the hut they were last time.
'I'm sorry.'
'It's fine.'
Sticking close to each other, they ran down the path, Curt breaking down the door when they reached it.
'You!' Blinky shouted, his eye widening slightly.
'Yes, you sick bastard. It's us,' Curt said. Then he held up a gun and nodded to Owen, who ran over to Wilbur.
As soon as Owen nodded back to Curt, he shot. His gaze stayed on the bullet until it pierced Blinky's eye. He let out a screech and then his body, just before hitting the floor, dematerialised.
'You guys okay?' Curt asked John and Wilbur, who now had their arms wrapped around one another.
'We're fine,' John said. 'Thank you.'
'Don't thank us yet,' Owen said. 'Sniggles are still out there.'
'It's fine. We can take them,' Wilbur said.
The four of them walked out, John and Wilbur's fingers intertwined and determination in Curt and Owen's eyes. Without Blinky, the sniggles didn't seem to really do much apart from sit around, unsure of their purpose. It was hard not to feel a little sorry for them until the four remembered what the sniggles had helped to do to them.
'Are you all okay?' Xander asked when they reached the gates.
'He's gone,' Owen said.
'Ah, good. Uh...' He looked at Wilbur, who was still crying. 'Can I just ask...'
'Blinky tried to make me shoot John. If Curt and Owen had gotten here five seconds later...'
'But they didn't. It's okay,' John whispered.
Wilbur nodded. 'Let's just get out of here.'
In agreement, everybody got into the car.

'So, I guess we won't really be starting back for another week,' Owen said as they got home. Xander had told all four of them to take the rest of the week off after what happened.
'And I know you're simply devastated about that,' Curt said sarcastically.
'Look, I'm not going to stand here and say I'm not happy that you have to take a bit more time to heal from being shot. And I hardly see how you can fault me for that.'
Curt groaned, 'I know. I just... I just want things to get back to normal.'
'I'd like if you could show me what normal even looks like.'
Curt laughed weakly. 'I don't wanna fight again. After seeing John and Will today... That bastard tried to make us kill each other. He made us say horrible things. But, as it turned out, we didn't even need him. I shouldn't have said some of the things I said last night.'
'No, you were right-'
'That doesn't make the things I said okay.'
'Neither were the things I-'
'Why don't we just skip this part? I have a feeling we're not going to stop interrupting each other for long enough to actually get through it.' Curt smiled.
Owen laughed. 'Okay.'
They both sat down.
'Look, maybe you were right that I shouldn't've been going back. But... Being here all the time... It...'
Owen moved slightly closer to Curt. 'It what?'
'I was scared. I wanted to get back so that we could kill him. I was scared that he would find a way to- to get between us even if we were here-'
'Curt, he's never going to get between us again. He's gone. I think we can just put the last two weeks behind us. I'm not exactly proud of some of the things I've said.'
'Neither am I.'
'So, can we just agree that that is all behind us now?'
Curt nodded.
'Okay.' Owen gently wrapped his arms around Curt.
'I love you.'
'I love you too.'

'I think I'm gonna go through to bed,' Curt said yawning as the movie they were watching finished.
'You sure? It's only half nine.'
'Yeah. I'm tired.'
'All right. Well, I'll be through in about half an hour.'
'Okay. Goodnight.'
'Night.'
Curt quickly kissed Owen before going through to bed. Then Owen's phone started to ring. So he picked it up.
'Annabelle? Is everything okay? It's half past nine at night.'
Silence.
'Hello?'
'Yeah. Hi. I'm... Listen, I really have to talk to you. I have majorly fucked up.'
'What's happened?'
'I don't want to do this over the phone.'
'Do you want to come over tomorrow? Or tonight?'
'Do you mind?'
'No, of course not.'
'Okay, I'll be there in ten.'
'Okay.'
Owen let Curt know what was going on then he put on the kettle to make tea. Before he knew it, there was a soft knock on the door.
'Hi,' Annabelle said as he opened it. Smudged mascara was barely visible beneath her eyes, which looked slightly red.
'Hey. Is everything okay? You sounded kind of panicked over the phone. And you look like you've been crying. Do you want tea?'
Annabelle walked in and sat down. 'This shit with mum and dad is over for good. And yeah.'
Owen sat next to her, handing her a mug.
'How? And why is that a bad thing?'
'Because of what I had to do.'
Owen's eyebrows lowered and his eyes widened with worry. 'What did you do?'
'I told them something. Something I never wanted them to know. Something I should have told you ages ago.'
'What is it?'
'I wasn't entirely truthful with you.'
'When?'
'When I said I don't have a girlfriend. I mean, I didn't lie. That is true. I do not have a girlfriend. But I also didn't give you the truth. I am currently living with my partner, Abigail.'
'I... I don't understand.'
'Abi and I met in Italy. They moved back here with me and we agreed that we were going to move in together. It's her you heard me having heated conversations with over the phone in Italian.'
'What about?'
'She wanted me to move in. I said I had to tell you first. But I couldn't.'
'Why not? Why couldn't you tell me?' he asked quietly.
'It's complicated.'
'How so?'
Annabelle sighed and slowly said, 'We are both aroace.'
'Oh, so it's like a QPR then?'
Annabelle's eyes widened. 'You... Yes. How do you...'
'My friends, Tatiana and Barb, have a similar sort of setup.'
'Oh. Oh, that makes sense. Anyway, mum and dad know. And I'm not sure what to do.'
'I don't think you have to do anything. Ignore them and they'll get the message eventually.'
'I hope you're right.'
'When am I not?'
'Often.'
'Well that's not very nice.'
Annabelle laughed. 'Not nice doesn't mean the same as not true.'
'Oh, shut up.'

~

(A/N: Couldn't let them stay upset with one another for too long and whoa look at that updates 2 days in a row)