The first stars had begun to show on the grey sky, the horizon slightly pink from the setting sun. The night was about to fall, but I wasn’t feeling like coming back to the hotel, considering how much it sucked. We had returned to staying in shitty hotel rooms ever since we killed Brit three days ago, to make sure we stay out of sight until the medias forget about the case. We had gotten away successfully, and as far as we knew, no one had figured we were the ones, who shot him. But just think about it – someone had just murdered a murderer. No one really cared who did it, they were just glad the bastard was dead.

And still, we had decided to be careful.

The park was almost empty at this time of the day. It was strangely peaceful; the sounds of the city seemed distant, as if we were captured in a small world, where only the songs of the birds and the quiet crunch of the gravel under our feet sounded real. The air smelled of happiness – of fresh grass, wet, since it had just stopped raining, of doughnuts and cotton candy, and Vic’s particular smell of coffee, mint and chocolate. I took a deep breath of it, keeping it in my nostrils for a moment.

“…And I just asked him what’s with the squirrel, and he told me, and then he left and I had to clean up after him.”

Vic was explaining me something, but I was barely listening to him. I had long lost the storyline, but I tried not to get distracted by the atmosphere around me and keep up with the conversation.

“And…?”, I asked after politely waiting a minute for him to continue.

“And nothing, that was it. Then I got a new apartment and never saw him again.”, he waved his ice cream in the air. “You know. Same old story.”

“Ah, I see.”, I nodded, unsure if I knew what he was talking about at all. I had totally lost this bit with the apartment.

I noticed Victor’s small smile.

“What?”

“You weren’t listening to me at all, weren’t you?”, he raised an eyebrow.

“No! No, I was… A little.”, I admitted. “Sorry, I’m just so absent minded tonight.”

“That’s okay.”, he shrugged. “What were you thinking about?”

I looked down and kicked a small stone.

“About how I don’t want to go.”, I said quietly.

“To go… Oh. You mean… Yeah.” He nodded, looking away and biting his lower lip. “Right.”

“I have a week and two days left.”, I added, just by the way.

“I know. That’s not much…”, he hesitated. “…Kellin?”

I finally looked at him. “Yeah?”

“If you weren’t going to die… Just hypothetically… what would you do?”

“Hmm. I don’t know, that’s an interesting question.” I knitted eyebrows, thinking for a moment. “Maybe I’d move to some other country and get a new identity, so I’d be safe… Yup. I’d move to Canada. And change my name to… to… to Todd. With double “d”. Todd.” I stressed the d’s, grinning a little. I took him by the hand and pulled him closer to me. “And I’d take you with me and spend the rest of my life with you… if you don’t mind.”

Vic giggled.

“Not at all… Well, at least not if you get rid of the snoring first.”

“I don’t snore!”, I objected and lightly pushed him, giggling as well. “You snore!”

“I most certainly don’t.”, he looked at me calmly and took a bite from the ice cream. “You do, though.”

“I don’t!” I crossed my arms. “If I do, then you do, too!”

He rolled eyes.

“You’re such a baby, Kell.”

“I’m noooot.”, I pouted.

“Okay, okay, whatever.”

With a small chuckle, Victor stuck his ice cream in my face, leaving a small spot of it on my nose. I wiped it away and licked it off my fingers, laughing a little.

“Seriously, though.”, he continued, watching me with a smile. “Would you really want to take me with you if you had to leave the country? Wouldn’t that be dangerous for your safety?”

“I don’t care. You mean the world to me, Vic, I’m not going anywhere without you… Except for the afterlife. I ain’t taking you there.”

“I’ll have to join you, though, sooner or later.”, he reminded me.

“It better be later. Try not to die anytime soon.”, I poked him. “Okay?”

“Okay, I’ll do my best not to.”, he smiled bitterly.

“Good boy.” I wrapped an arm around him.

“Mm.”, Vic rested his head on my shoulder as we kept walking. “My Kellin.”

“My Vic.”, I murmured in reply, then turned his cap back so the visor wasn’t covering his face anymore. I leant in and kissed the already fading scar on his forehead.

He pulled the hat down, to cover it, looking down at his feet.

“You know, once you told me something pretty wise… which is very unlikely for you, you rarely say smart things.”, I couldn’t help but tease him. “Anyway, you told me I shouldn’t be ashamed of my scars, because they show how much I’ve been through, and how strong I am. It’s true – and I must say, you’re stronger than I’ll ever be, Victor.”

“Nope.”, he shook head. “I’m just a good actor, I can hide my weaknesses well.”

“True, that too. You can’t hide all of them from me, though.” I grinned slightly, then leaned closer again to murmur in his ear: “…Because I know you’re very, very ticklish.”

Vic glared at me. “Don’t you dare.”

“But I miiiight.”, I poked him in the stomach.

He gasped and jumped away, giggling.

“I said don’t you dare, Bostwick!”

“Don’t call me by my surname, Fuentes!”, I tickled him again, this time holding him in a way he couldn’t escape that easily.

“Noooo!”, he flailed, laughing hard. “Let me go, you prick!”

An old couple sitting on a bench gave us a few disapproving looks.

“I’m not letting you go anywhere!”, I announced and my grip around him tightened. “You’ll remain trapped here forever. Insert-evil-psychotic-laughter-here.”

“What if I scream for help?”, Vic looked at me challengingly.

“…You won’t.”

“Oh, you think so?”, he grinned widely, then suddenly let out a high scream: “HEEEEELP, I’M BEING KIDNAPPED! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH-”

“Shhh, shut up, someone would think I’m really doing something to you!”, I chuckled.

“I DON’T CAAARE! HEEEEEEELP, HEEEEEL-“

I tilted my head to the side and kissed him quickly, to gag his mouth. The laughter we both were trying to hold back made us break the kiss after a moment and once I looked up, I saw the same old couple look at us accusingly with kind of disgusted faces. Vic noticed them too and a soft blush appeared on his cheeks.

“…Come on, now, we have audience, let’s move somewhere, where people wouldn’t watch us this way.”

“Well, I won’t apologize for being different.”, I frowned a bit. “I know, I know, I don’t like being judged too, but we shouldn’t feel obligated to go someplace else. If they don’t like us, they should move.”

“They’re old people.”, Vic pointed out.

“So?” I rolled eyes. “That doesn’t mean they’re wise.”

“I never said that. I’m just saying that we shouldn’t bother them.”

“Maybe you have a point.” I pulled his hand closer to my mouth and took a bite of his ice cream.

“Heeey, that’s mine! You had to ask for a permission!”, he pouted childishly.

“Yeah, but I didn’t, because I’m such a bully.”, I took another one and left him alone. “Come on, let’s go this way.”

I took him by the hand again and headed to a side alley between the trees, which seemed less populated. The sky had become darker and the lighting was now on, soft orange light showing us our way. The lamps were causing the trees to cast lace-like shadows on the ground, making the atmosphere almost romantic. I looked at Vic. The wind played with the branches and made their jet-black reflections dance, as if they were alive, spreading them around like spilled ink. They slipped across his face too, gently tracing his delicate features, highlighting his cheekbones and making his warm dark eyes look even deeper. Noticing how I was looking at him, he blushed a little and smiled at me. Funny how we knew each other for what seemed like such a long time, and still, sometimes we felt a bit awkward around each other. Not always, sure, but sometimes. I guess we just both weren’t used to this kind of… I don’t know, romance. None of us really had time for things like that before, our lives had been all stress, worries and problems, and almost no happiness at all. I dare to say we were somewhat afraid of doing the wrong thing and fucking things up. However, most of the time I trusted my instincts and they seemed to be always right.

After walking in silence for awhile, watching the darkness become thicker and the night fall down like a big black tired bird, I decided to speak up:

“…Do you feel bad about it?”

“Huh?”, Vic looked up at me, a bit startled to hear me speak. “About what?”

“You know… Killing a man…”, I cast him a look.

“Well… Thing is, I’m not sure.”, he shook head. “Maybe I feel bad, kinda. The whole incident was pretty shocking itself. But what bothers me most is that I don’t really care I killed Steve. Hell, I’m glad I did. Otherwise he’d kill you, in a horrible way, and he got you this.” He lightly traced the still fresh scar on my cheek. “He deserved to die. So yeah, I guess the answer is no. I don’t really feel bad about it.”

I nodded thoughtfully.

“You have a point, I suppose… He was a horrible man.”

“Yeah. No one can hurt my baby and get away with it.” Victor smiled again and rested his hand on the side of my face. “Seeing his blood spilled everywhere might bring me nightmares, but it also brings me a feeling of satisfaction, of a job well done.”

“I know what you mean. I think I felt the same way when I shot Terrance.”, I confessed. Then, after a pause, I continued: “You saved my ass back there and I don’t think I even thanked you. So… thank you for saving my life, Vic.”

“Nah, don’t. We should stop thanking each other for this. Since we’re basically living on the edge, always in danger, always getting away in the last second, always surviving thanks to each other, we must have gotten used to this.” He smirked.

“I’m starting to.”, I chuckled. “A bit too late, though, since it’s all gonna end soon…”

“Shh, don’t talk about this.”, his finger gently touched my lips, making me shut up. “Let’s not discuss it anymore. Let’s just live like you’re not dying, like forever is ours.”

“What do you mean, forever is ours?”, I tilted head, suddenly an idea forming in my head.

“Well, you know, they say that love is forever. And… your forever is all that I need.”, he furrowed eyebrows. “…Why are you looking me like this?”

“They say that love is forever, your forever is all that I need…”, I murmured to myself, thinking something. “…Huh? Oh, nothing, I just… I think I thought of something, you’ll see.”

“What is it?”, Vic blinked, now even more confused.

“You will find out soon, I promise, just… gimme some time. Remember that line for me, okay? In case I forget it.”

“What line…?”

I waved my hand. “Whatever, forget it. I’ll remember it by myself. It’s just… something I’ve promised… Yeah. Never mind.”

Vic spent another minute in trying to get an explanation from me, but then he gave up, realizing I’m not going to tell him anything. I had awaken his curiosity, though, so now he was watching me carefully, trying to get me caught in action. However, he wasn’t going to succeed, whatever I was planning, it was going to be a surprise. Slowly the conversation went in another direction and hopefully he forgot about this.

“So you have a half-sister?”, he asked.

“Yeah, and two little half-brothers.”, I nodded. “After mom left us she married again, this time a decent guy. I barely know this part of my family, but as far as I remember, they’re all awesome. How about you? Do you have any siblings?”

“Yup, a younger brother I haven’t seen for, like, ages. His name is Mike.”, Vic smiled slightly.

“Oh, yeah, you’ve mentioned him before a few times. Why don’t you see each other anymore?”

“He lives back home in San Diego and I moved to Chicago years ago. Truth is, we’re not as close as we used to be. When we lived in New York, before mom and dad died, we were, like, best friends, but then we had to go separate ways, and eventually we stopped even talking… I’m sure he’d be happy to meet me again, though.”, he quickly added. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like we don’t get along. We just never got the chance to get to know each other better.”

“I get it, yeah. You gotta talk to him, though. He must be worried about you, if he watches the news.”

“He probably is… I might call him, actually…”

“You should.”, I smiled and patted his shoulder. “You definitely should.”

I was about to add something else, when suddenly I heard footsteps somewhere aside of us. It wasn’t the footsteps what bothered me, it could be someone walking their dog or something. No, it was the way the footsteps sounded. They sounded like someone sneaking, trying not to be heard. I knew there’s probably nothing to worry about, but decided to be cautious, just in case.

Vic probably noticed the sudden change in my expression, because a worried look appeared upon his face.

“Kell, is there something wrong?”

“I…” I narrowed eyes at the darkness. “I don’t know, I think there might be-”

But I couldn’t finish, because suddenly a figure came out of nowhere and stood in front of us, standing in our way and not allowing us to continue. I couldn’t see the man well, but I could tell he’s holding something in his hand and he’s waving it at us.

“Gimme your wallets!”, he mumbled.

“…Excuse me?”, I raised an eyebrow. The light fell on the thing he was holding and reflected in the smooth surface of a knife.

Seriously? Robbing us? Robbing us? Jesus fucking Christ, what have I done to deserve this shit, I thought to myself, annoyed.

“I said your wallets, bitches, give me your wallets!”

By the guy’s voice I could tell he was young, maybe still just a teenager. Now, when he had gotten closer, I could tell he’s a skinny boy in a baggy hoodie and dirty sweatpants. He was trying to look tough, but he was leaving the impression of a little kid, dressed in his parents’ clothes, too young, too foolish to do this.

“Okay, okay. Calm down, kid, we’ll give you whatever you want, just don’t hurt anyone, okay?”, Vic said in a steady voice.

“Don’t fucking tell me to fucking calm down, you fuck!”, the boy yelled and waved the knife in front of his face.

Vic gave me a helpless look. As our eyes met, he slightly nodded. Awesome, I had permission to do what I intended to – to scare the kid a bit and show him that weapons are a bad thing.

“A’right, I’m gonna get my wallet out of my pocket now.”, I spoke up again. “I’ll move slowly.”

“Damn fucking right, you better do, or you both are fucking dead.”

“Sweet.”, Victor murmured to himself bitterly.

I put my hand in my inside pocket, but I didn’t take my wallet, instead my fingers slipped past it and went deeper, looking for my gun. When I finally reached it, I started pulling it out slowly, just as promised, and then, in the last second, at the velocity of light I got my hand out and stuck my weapon in the poor kid’s face.

“How about you give us your wallet?”, I grinned.

His eyes widened in horror as he realized he’s fucked. His hand opened and the knife fell on the ground with a quiet clatter.

“Vic.”, I glanced at my boyfriend. “Search him for other weapons and take all the wallets you find.” I turned back at the frightened boy. “How many you’ve got there, hm? How many people have you robbed?”

I didn’t expect him to answer, but he actually did.

“J-just t-t-two, sir… Please… P-please, don’t hurt me…”

Vic did what I told him to and roughly searched the kid’s pockets. He found three wallets, one of them belonging to a Mr. Jenkins, the other one was obviously Mrs. Stephenson’s property, and the third, the cheapest and smallest one, was Brad Ripley’s, as it was written there on the ID card. Victor held it out for me so I could see it and after I compared the picture with the boy that was standing in front of me, I could tell it’s the same person.

“Brad?”, I tried. “Look. We ain’t gonna hurt you… for now. If you promise you’re not gonna do this ever again, stealing things, we’ll let you go. But if you do, we’ll find out. We’ll find you, and we’ll skiiiiiiiiin you. Understood?”

Brad nodded rapidly, his eyes full of tears. Ah, how good it felt to use lines from a TV show in front of a person, who obviously hasn’t watched it.

“Alright, if you really mean it, then you’re free to go.”, I judged. “Go to mom and dad. Eat your vegetables. Grow beard. Do something productive.”

“Don’t do drugs, and stay out of gangs.”, Vic added, hardly holding his grin back.

“That’s right. Oh, and buy a dictionary. ‘Fuck’ is a nice cuss word, but it’s not very original, admit it. At least not original enough to use it basically after every single word in every single sentence. Educate yourself, kiddo, don’t waste your time with bullshit like this.”

“Now shoo.”

Vic motioned at another alley, hinting at him to get the hell out of here as soon as possible. That wasn’t necessary, though, the kid just turned around and ran faster than I thought a human being could.

“He’s not gonna bother us anymore.”, I announced, watching Brad disappear between the trees.

“Certainly.”, my partner agreed. “You did a great job.”

“You too.” I held out a hand, offering a high five. “We’re a great team.”, I winked.

“Hell yeah, we are! We’re badass!”, Vic high-fived me with a wide grin, then looked down at the wallets in his hand. “We gotta give those back.”

“Tomorrow we’ll send them to their owners.”, I decided.

“Good idea, we should.”

We continued our walk, sure that all the thieves in the area had found out about us by now and, if they had enough brain to think about it, they’d stay away from us, at a safe distance. I still kept a hand in my pocket, next to my gun, just in case, but soon I relaxed and I almost completely forgot about what had just happened.

After a few minutes we decided to sit on a bench. There was no one around, everyone had gone home to have dinner with their families or watch a soccer game on TV or something. It felt good to be alone in the park at night. Everything was so quiet and kind of mysterious, I almost expected unicorns and dragons to start going out from behind the trees. Thankfully, such thing didn’t happen.

I looked down at Vic’s ice cream.

“It’s melted.”, I pointed out.

He looked at it as well, then shrugged and dipped his finger inside the waffle cornet. “Doesn’t matter, man, it’s still worth eating.”

“Drinking.”, I corrected him.

“Right.”, he took his finger out and licked it, leaving a little ice cream on his upper lip. “…Want some?”

“Sure.” I smiled a bit.

“Okay, let me.”, he giggled softly, took some more of it and before I could understand what he’s doing, he drew a mustache on my face with it.

“Oh, great, now I’m gonna be a grumpy old man.”, I laughed, and then pouted, knitting my eyebrows. “What’s wrong with the kids these days, come here, my child, let me take a look at you…” I shook head disapprovingly. “What is this, you’re wearing your hat turned at the wrong direction. Back in the old days, when I was young, we all wore our hats correctly. And oh dear, look at your hair! Since when boys keep their hair so long, they look like girls! Back in the old days, when I was young, all the boys had short haircuts, just like they should. And how about your-”

“Oh, shut up, old man, you know nothing.”, Vic chuckled, pulled me closer and kissed me.

I allowed him to do that for awhile, then pushed him back.

“Shame on you! Back in the old days, when I was young, boys didn’t kiss other boys, this is a disgrace, how dare you!”, I continued my speech in my ‘grumpy old guy’ voice, but I was interrupted yet again by another kiss.

This time I kissed back, enjoying feeling Victor’s soft lips against mine, now tasting of cream and strawberries. My hands slid up his chest, through his shoulders and then to his back, where I wrapped them around him and pressed him close. He pulled back a bit to murmur:

“Jesus, you have ice cream all over your face.”

I giggled.

“You too. It tastes sweet, but I bet we both look like total idiots.”

“Yeah, probably.”, he grinned. “Let’s do something about that, shall we?”

His lips brushed against my skin again, and I slightly shuddered as he licked some of the ice cream off of my upper lip. He drew his tongue up my left cheek, the one which wasn’t hurt, and ate the rest of the sweet, now liquefied stuff. I couldn’t help but grin too, gasping quietly.

“Vic… What… are you doing…”

“Cleaning you up…”, he whispered, his voice almost a purr.

Oh God, this was getting out of control… as always… Why was I even surprised…?

Victor moved back to kissing me, his kisses becoming more rough and violent, as he started biting my lower lip. His hand slipped under my shirt and up my back, his fingertips tracing my spine. I shuddered once more, my breathing quickening. After a few moments his lips left mine alone and moved to my neck, his teeth leaving pale marks along it. I couldn’t stop the soft moan that struggled to escape my mouth.

“Why always the wrong place, Vic…”, I murmured, trying to sound accusing.

“Because it’s more interesting…”, he stopped bite-kissing me to chuckle a little. “And it’s not like I can help it, you know…”

I rolled eyes.

“And then you say I’m the one, who only thinks of alcohol and sex.”

“Well.”, Vic shrugged lightly. “I never said you’re the only one. Besides, don’t blame me…”, he left another kiss on my neck. “…I simply can’t resist you…”

“Don’t start with the compliments now, Fuentes, or I’ll kick you, I swear.”, I threatened.

“Uh-oh… Sorry…”

He trailed more kisses up to my jawline, his fingers playing with my hair, then they started slowly slipping back down. I tilted my head to the side, letting him keep kissing me, and pressed myself against him, feeling his warm body close to mine, his heart pounding in his chest. Te blood rushed into his face, making his tanned skin slightly pink. Suddenly the bench we were sitting on seemed extremely uncomfortable. It limited my movements and restrained my actions, which was a problem…

Breathing heavily, left with no breath from all those kisses, Vic pushed me down on the wooden surface and climbed on top of me. I hit my back a little, but I didn’t care, it didn’t matter… I just wanted him to continue, I wanted to let him do whatever he wants with me… My Vic…

He leaned down and bit the edge of the collar of my shirt, after that he let it go and murmured in my ear:

“I suggest moving to a more comfortable place, what do you think?”

I looked up at him with my eyes half-open.

“Yes, please…”, I said shakily. “Though… The ground works, too…”

“But there are mosquitoes, they’ve already started biting me.” By his voice I could tell he frowned.

“Oh… I don’t know, then...”

I opened my eyes. Hell, I didn’t care about the mosquitoes, I didn’t care about the uncomfortable bench, I just… wanted…

“You know what…” I grinned. “Fuck the mosquitoes, I don’t give a shit about the mosquitoes, just… do whatever you think you should…”

Vic smirked and playfully licked my ear before pulling away.

“Whatever I should, or whatever I want…? Specify.”

“Whatever you want.”, I corrected myself.

“…Wonderful. We’re gonna have such a great time, then.”

And he kissed me again under the starry sky, the shadows still twisting around us, isolating us from the world, as the moans, rustling of clothes being taken off and the song of the wind, as soft as a quiet sigh, all mixed together and harmonized in a symphony of bliss.

To live in love and die…
END OF CHAPTER 23

Notes

Okay, so I decided to add a cute, sweet chapter for my readers to rest a bit before the next one, because I'm telling you, it's gonna be really, really sad D:

>I took the bit with Todd in Canada from this (super long) interview: [link] (by the way, you can watch the whole thing, it's hilarious XD I love that interview)

>The line Kellin used is from the BBC TV series Sherlock. It's originally said by Jim Moriarty: "Say that again and know if you are lying to me, I will find you and I will ssskiiiin you." Sorry, couldn't help but use it. XD

>I also used lyrics from Feel and If I'm James Dean, You're Audrey Hepburn (by SWS) and I Don't Care If You're Contagious (by PTV)