DoomPet

Chapter 79

A week had passed after the chaos of Crüe's discovery. While he wasn't quite back to normal he was feeling a lot better. He wasn't having anymore dreams which was a curse and a blessing. He missed seeing his family, even if it was a mirror house version of the past, exaggerating their disagreements and hate for each other. The photo he had found was treated the same way as the photo of his family. It was given to the Slayer with the strict orders for him to never see it again. He refused to believe it was another marauder. It didn't make sense.

Honestly as much as the Slayer helped him, he didn't think he could have gotten through without Haru. The little cat had been glued to his side, always making sure he was ok.

He was now on the couch, tapping away at his little research report on marauders. It was absolutely fascinating to see where he had written it while drinking the blood smoothies. His grammar was off and his thoughts trailed in cyclical, endless run-ons. He said the same thing a million times and could barely understand how he was even functioning normally with his thoughts so wild. It concerned him... how could he have been so blind to how it was affecting him... why didn't it make him physically ill? Why did it just give him those awful dreams?

"Meow?"

He was yanked out of his thoughts by Haru pawing at him. He supposed his spiral was also picked up by the connection the cat had to him. "Sorry I'll stop."

"What?" The Slayer looked up from cleaning dishes. He didn't feel like running the new dishwasher. It had too many buttons besides there were only a few plates and cups.

"Nothing, I was just feeling a little bit sad and Haru yelled at me." He leaned over the couch and smiled at his lover.

The Slayer finished up and walked over to the couch, kissing the demon and patting Haru's head. "Well we have the rest of the night to relax."

"One more thing. I fixed up all the grammar, and made sure everything was all good." He pulled away from the man.

"So you just have to send it to Samuel! That's great!" He wrapped an arm around the demon.

Crüe paused and sort of shifted in his seat. "One more thing... I have to sign my name. Do you think I should sign my name Crüe or Crüe Umbra?"

"Well, didn't you say you were gonna keep Umbra as your last name?"

"I know but now I'm doubting myself." He set the laptop down on the coffee table with an exaggerated sigh, and fell back into the couch cushions with an equally as exaggerated motion.

"I say use Umbra. You could always change it right?" His finger danced over the demon's taught muscles. The poor thing was actually really stressed. He felt bad.

He turned away from the touch and looked out the window, "I know I shouldn't be sad about losing them anymore... but sometimes like now it just bubbles up and I miss them."

Haru slapped the demon's leg again, scolding him. He still had a family with the Slayer and that rat demon creature Daisy. He needed to start focusing on the family he did still have rather than an abusive family from the past. Even if the love was there it was nearly impossible to separate it from all the awful shit that happened-

Crüe turned to Haru, interrupting his scolding through their connection, "Sometimes I just need to be sad!"

The cat retorted right back yelling more about how he needed to put all the stuff about his family away until he was either in a better space or found more information. Hell, the demon would spiral every ten or twenty minutes. It was getting ridiculous!

The Slayer couldn't hear the connection Haru had with Crüe so he awkwardly sat there listening to Crüe's responses. Eventually the cat gave up and walked away to pout in a corner.

"Do you ever think you might look back at stuff about your family with rose colored glasses?" The Slayer just wanted to cuddle tonight so he treaded carefully.

Crüe went to defend his family against the Slayer but he couldn't even get past the first word. All his nice memories of stealing candies in town, family dinners... they all ended in screaming matches between his father and some other poor soul in the family. "Yes."

"Like you can be sad, that's normal, everyone would feel that way, but," he closed his eyes and paused before speaking, "I just feel like you're obsessing over this an unhealthy amount. I mean do you want to find them, or at least try? I'm just worried about you Crüe."

"What is there to be worried about? One day, yes, I want to try and find them. If they are dead it would give me some closure and if they are still alive..." He trailed off; he wasn't sure what they would do if they were alive.

"I mean Crüe..." the Slayer felt shitty for saying this, "you aren't the same Crüe that left them. What if they don't realize it's you? What if they realize it's you and reject you still?"

He felt the faintest flash of anger towards the Slayer. Then nothing. If they didn't kill him on sight, they'd never accept him back after this transformation. He thought for a long time. "You're right..."

Even if he didn't remember all the details of what drove him to leave in the end he left his family for a reason... He grabbed his laptop off the coffee table and deleted "Umbra" off his name. The tiny four letter name "Crüe" stood alone on the page, but it made him feel free.

He flipped back and forth between missing and hating his family, between using and removing his last name... but this time felt permanent. He sent it to Samuel before he could change his "permanent" decision. He leaned against the Slayer and kissed his cheek, his horns brushing against the man's hair. "I love you. I'm so sorry about all of this-"

"Crüe don't apologize." The Slayer laid down on the couch and pulled the demon on top of him, hugging him. "You're going through a lot. Don't worry it's gonna be ok."

The demon murmured softly into his ear, "Sometimes I want things to go back to how they were when we were in the fortress. It seemed so simple and perfect back then. Everything was so mysterious and new, and we didn't have all these problems."

"Mhmm, but remember the looming feeling of having to fight the icon?" The Slayer kissed the small spikes on the demon's head, "Or the poisoned wine?"

He groaned, "I do have an issue with remembering the past with rose colored glasses, don't I?"

The Slayer laughed and smiled down at him. "You know... wine doesn't sound half bad right now."

The demon practically leapt up, "Ooh I like that line of thinking!" He flashed a tooth grin at the Slayer, "And this time we won't start attacking each other!"

"Hopefully!" The man sat up and pulled the demon in for one more kiss, "We probably have to go down to the shops, hopefully they are still open."

They rushed down to a liquor store and grabbed a few bottles of wine and beer and a variety of other alcohols. It was much more expensive than the Slayer anticipated, but he was just happy to see Crüe smiling. They scurried home like squirrels with their new stash and put most of it in a cabinet, before pouring themselves two glasses of wine and taking the bottle into the bedroom.

Crüe pried the cork out with his teeth, lapping up the few drops of wine on the rim of the bottle that popped out with it. The drinks were poured and they sat on the floor by the window, letting in the cool night air and lighting up their faces with moon light. They drank from each other's cup, letting their lips be drawn to one another when they weren't guzzling in the drinks.

Warm fuzzy feelings filled the Slayer's chest, but it wasn't from the wine. He wanted the marauder in every explicit way he could think of.

The demon reached down and cupped the man's face, using his thumb to rub the stubble on his chin. He was memorized by it as he had never really gotten to look at facial hair up close. "It's prickly..." he whispered.

The Slayer looked up at the demon, their faces only inches away. "Here I have an idea."

Crüe pulled him in for a kiss, "What is it my Slayer?"

"Take your clothes off."