take care of stuff over there.

he had, in fact, buried his mother. he still couldn’t even say it. couldn’t even bring himself to say the words. once upon a time, for over a decade, he had buried bodies for a living. but when it came to burying somebody he loved…

sam was going to say that it wasn’t knox’ fault that sam was busy all the time. he could time manage better. he could tell summer no sometimes.

he just didn’t. because he got caught up in the tasks and in his mind, had to tick off all the things on the list before he could go back.

what he was realizing, or had realized while he was gone, was that knox was more important than a list full of checkmarks.

smiling at the notion that knox is, in fact, too pretty for prison, sam walks closer and wraps a hand around knox’ lower back. he takes his hand, holding it up, beginning a small sway.

is he classically dancing with knox in their background with nothing but the light of the moon and the song of the stars as their guides? yes.

”i’ll be the villain in a thousand stories if it keeps me right here with you.”

knox prescott

it's taken this long for sam to look at him and think, oh, you're more important than a bunch of check marks? he isn't a mind reader, really, so he doesn't know that's exactly what sam's thinking, but he knows there's something going on in his weird, beautiful brain. 

something that has to do with knox. 

and maybe a year ago it would have made him want to yank his hands from sam's own and run to the other side of the world, just to see if he'd follow, but instead he gives in to his touch. allows sam to draw him closer and sways to the sound of the kricketune and the lapping shore that makes up their backyard.

his lips twinge. "i can't believe i was afraid i'd ruin you." 

he presses their foreheads together and then, of course, parts his lips to take sam's own, teeth seeking none-too-gently into his lower lip. 

samuel carter

☉

the words cause sam to smirk, though that smirk wilts when those lips find his. the teeth against his lip cause a heat to begin in his stomach, one which he doesn't snuff out immediately. he has learned, thanks to knox, not to ignore those feelings but instead to embrace them and let his own curious mind get to work.

but there is a subject at hand. they are technically supposed to be going to the store, something he feels he should remind knox of but also knows that knox will throw a fit if sam doesn't remind him in a certain way.

instead of pulling away, or ending their dance, he slides his foot between knox' feet and then pulls one of his boyfriend's feet forward quickly, catching him and dipping him down. the tug of those teeth on his lips don't bother sam as he dips his boyfriend, looking at him with a quirked brow.

"we're supposed to go to the store, aren't we?"

knox prescott

can't they just get doordash for the rest of the week? sam's only just gotten back and yes, knox has had his fill for several hours now, but so much time away has literally made him insane and oh, he has sam anyway. fingers under the hem of only-just-put-on-pants, turning in a dance that will inevitably turn into a tumble or, if he's lucky, a slamming of his wrists up against the wall, or bent over - 

he loses his footing and sam's there to catch him, looking dazzlingly smug. 

"stores don't exist anymore actually," he says, fingers tightening. "i got rid of all of them while you were gone. guess we have to stay."

but captain wants to go. and she says as much by rubbing against sam's ankle and giving him a tiny shock. 

samuel carter

☉

The zap at his ankle causes Sam to wince, his body tingling now. He furrows his brows at Captain, looking down as if begging for a bit of mercy since it isn’t his fault Knox is so needy… but it definitely is his own fault for being so weak to every damn wish and whim of the boy, and he is all too aware that the pikachu knows that.

”Captain begs to differ.” Sam laughs, small smile forming before he bends and, with a grunt of effort thanks to several rounds, he picks Knox up off his feet and begins to carry him bridal style toward their house.

The house he built for them. The house that he plans on growing old with Knox in. The very house that was now, and would forever be, his home… was it also Knox’ home?

As they cross the threshold, he carries Knox over to their couch and plops him down, but he doesn’t leave him. He hovers over Knox and lets his gaze settle on Knox, gold eyes searching blue.

”I want to spend forever with you.” To give Knox a bit of space, he begins kissing the jaw and collarbones below him. ”You know that, don’t you?”

knox prescott

and then oopsie, he gets his way. captain loses and when sam picks him up bridal style, knox looks over his shoulder and sticks his tongue out at the pikachu. she pips in anger, bouncing after them with a promise of vengeance sparking at the end of her tail. 

but she's the more compassionate of the two of them and when sam places knox down and stays there, she sighs and acquieces. she'll just have to dig through the junk food he keeps hidden away from her...

captain completely forgotten, knox smooths his hands over sam's back, thumbs tracing the black lines swooping down the curve of his shoulders. he tilts his head back, giving sam free reign, and hitches his ankles greedily around sam's calves. 

they'd already gone at it for hours, but what's several more? 

"of course," he says airily. because forever is easy. forever isn't fifty years, until we're old and grey, through thick and thin, sickness and in health. forever is now and it's future and that's all that really matters. 

"and now we definitely can," he teases, "now that all the stores are gone 'n there's no one but us in the whole wide world."

samuel carter

☉

”No one but us.” Sam repeats him, breathless in a way as he does. Because Knox says ’of course’ like he knows what’s coming. Like he knows what Sam wants to ask and he thinks it silly that Sam hasn’t yet.

”Good,” the word is mumbled against Knox’ neck before Sam sits up and tickles at those ribs below him, his only real play to get away from those heels twisted near his calves to prevent him from doing what he plans; getting up. ”Because I wanna go to the crypt where we first met.”

His eyes have a hunger to them. More than just a physical hunger, but a longing. Like he’s waited the fifty years of gray hair and wrinkles type of forever to say that.

”There’s something there that I want to give you,” pushing a hand through his hair, he lets his hand trace carefully along the pale skin beneath him. ”Will you come with me?”

knox prescott