33. Silly Little Things

O ctavius tossed their used condoms, all of the discarded wrappers, and the wet wipes they had used to clean themselves, into the trash, beside all of the other ones in there—all very convenient, he had to say.

But then, the supplies were there for a reason. And this secret getaway spot wasn’t so secret…with it being listed on the website.

“Ugh…just…so wrong.” Turney groaned.

His zombie bun had moved enough to pull his swim trunks back on, but that was about all he’d done. Really, he was looking quite debauched.

His gaze trailed over the man’s pale, muscular chest, and he licked his lips. One more round could be a fun idea…

Oh, but the time. He glanced up, eyeing the sky through the dome with a frown. It was getting darker by the second.

Turney let out another groan of complaint.

Flopping back down next to the man in the clam, he snuggled into him, resting his head on his chest. “Relax, ours were not the only ones in there.”

“Ugh…now I feel worse.”

“So dramatic.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“Compliment taken.”

Turney snorted. “It wasn’t a compliment.”

“Well, I’m taking it as one.” He chuckled.

“Brat.” Turney sighed and wrapped his arm around his waist, pulling him closer.

“Your very content brat,” Octavius sang.

“Content, my ass. More like smug.”

He giggled. “Very.”

They lay there in peaceful silence. He knew they couldn’t stay too much longer, but…what would be the harm of spending a few more moments here?

“Octavius?”

“Mm?” he hummed.

“Are you…really content?”

Octavius blinked, looking up at the man’s face in confusion. The expression he found there gave him no answers. “Of course…I am. Why do you ask?”

“Let me rephrase… I know you are content right now, but…I mean…we will eventually have to leave here and go home. As much chaos as there is going on here right now…there is a glaring issue waiting for us back in Connecticut. And…you won’t talk about it. I’ve tried discussing it with you before this… Not here, but back at home, and you just shut me out.

“I know you are hurting…and I don’t want that. I love you… I want to be the one you go to with your problems. The one you tell this sort of stuff to…but…” Turney let out a sigh.

Octavius grimaced. He neither wanted to talk about the chaos here at the moment, nor about Godric…but…it seemed he may have put off talking about the latter for too long…

“I don’t mean to shut you out. Or hide my emotions. Though, I suppose, you already admitted that you knew I had been doing that before we even came here. But…the truth of the matter is… I am sad when I think about it for too long. So I try to not let myself do that.”

“Octavius, you can’t stop yourself from mourning someone you care about.”

“I know that,” he said softly. “What I meant to say is that I can’t let myself be sad about Godric now, nor could I have for all of these months.”

“Octavius, that’s…”

He held up his hand. “Please, let me finish.”

Turney went silent.

“I can’t let it happen. Do I fail at times? Yes… You saw that. But for the most part…I’ve succeeded in feeling nothing.

“Turney, you have to understand…I wasn’t shutting you out so much as I was shutting the emotions out. Talking about it brings them to the surface, so I don’t. What good would it have done me if I had mourned him all of these months? It wouldn’t have changed anything, just prolonged that pain. So instead, I…thought of the good times I had with him. In my mind, I celebrated the life he has had until now, and the friendship that we had.

“Mind you, I'm sure the tears will come, if necessary, but until that moment, until we know for sure he is lost…I refuse to let them. With you…I—” When his voice faltered, he cleared his throat. “When you…” He swallowed again, before finally managing to get the words out. “When you died…it was different. It’s different when it has already happened. With you, I was instantaneously distraught, because the outcome was right in front of me. With Godric, we’ve just been waiting. You may have noticed, but I’m not the best at waiting for things.”

Turney smiled sadly at him. “You really aren’t.”

“Well, I’m not the best at waiting in general, but I refuse to wait around for doom and gloom while feeling sad, before the finality of it all comes. I can be sad for silly things. I know you definitely think I am, at times, sad over silly things.”

The zombie sniffed, his eyes glossy as he rasped, “You are silly, but I love that about you. And I love the silly things that you feel sad over. I wouldn’t change that, or you, for the world.” The zombie laughed as he added, “Well, maybe less glitter.”

“Never.” Octavius chuckled, before stretching up and gently kissing the man on the lips. “Love you.”

“And I you…” The man slowly kissed him back. As his lips parted, the zombie whispered, “Octavius…”

“Yes, my precious zombie bun?”

“When you’re sad…and the tears come…just as I am when you are crying about the little things, I’ll be right by your side for the big too. Though with the latter, I’ll likely be crying with you, because I know Godric is someone you love.”

“He is… As a friend…and as someone who mentored my best friend in this world… Godric is someone very important to me. Which…makes me extra sad to know that he may never get to know you. Someone…” He took a calming breath, holding back the tears that tried to form. “Someone who has, in a short blink of time, come to mean so much to me.”

Turney hugged him closer, both arms coming around him now. “I love you so much.”

Octavius smiled, his heart filling with joy. He was loved…and happy. Sadness may come, but if it did, he would be fine because he wasn’t alone… Yet…he wasn’t so sure everyone would be…

“Turney…if the time does come…please…be there for Scarlett too. I think… Well, I know, this is the first time in a very long time that she has lost someone like this. Scarlett…doesn’t show her emotions as easily as I do… I worry about her a lot. She can be so closed off. She doesn’t mean to be, but it is her way.”

“I know.” Turney kissed the top of his head. “I’ll be there for both of you. I’m sure Min-ji will be too, along with the rest of our crazy, unconventional family.”

Octavius chuckled, before sighing as the last bit of light disappeared in the sky. “We should head back to the hotel. It’s getting late. I don’t know when that manager will be in, but we might as well relax there.”

Hand clutching his boyfriend’s, as the man adorably swung their arms, there was a smile on Turney’s face as he turned the corner. That smile dropped the moment he spotted the note on their hotel room door.

“So much for relaxing at the hotel.”

“Pity.” Octavius stopped swinging their arms, and released his hand to approach the door without him.

The vampire plucked the note off and started to read it out loud as Turney walked over. “ Mr. Evander & Mr Pimms, I was informed that you wanted to discuss the work that went into deciding which events are held here. I’ll be working at the Blue Duckling all night. Feel free to seek me out, I’d be happy to answer your questions. Alissa Grant .”

On hearing the words… He just felt…off… His gut was telling him this was not a good idea.

Turney peeked down at the note in the man’s hand. The handwriting was…horrible. “I’m surprised you were able to read that.”

“I’ve seen worse.” Octavius chuckled, yet the sound didn’t seem happy. “There is no smell on the note.”

Well, that just confirmed his thoughts on the whole note thing. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

The vampire looked up, meeting his gaze. The man’s eyes were full of concern. “Neither do I…but it may lead us to the answers we need. And if she is the one responsible… Well, we might as well show her just what her incompetence has led her to,” Octavius growled viciously.

Turney sighed. “Should we call the others first?”

“Let them rest… She called us out specifically…so let’s see what she wants.”

“That…sounds like the opposite of a good plan.”

Octavius smiled. “Well, you can yell at me later.”

Turney snorted. “Let’s throw our swim bags into our room and walk head first into this trap, I guess.”

“Hey, don’t jinx us! It’s not confirmed yet that it is a T-word.” The vampire huffed.

“It is so a trap. You know it, I know it… Why bother being in denial?!” he scoffed, as he unlocked the door to their hotel room and tossed his bag inside. Turney let the door swing shut after Octavius had set his own down.

“No more using that word. I’ll be in denial if I want to be, thank you very much.” Octavius waved him forward. “After you.”

Turney rolled his eyes and headed back down the hall towards the elevator.