#estevan aguliar

[darrens-toyhouse]

The Haunting of Ethan Cho: Connected!

Trigger Warning: Mentions of self-harm and blood.

The titled is so edgy, I am so sorry ×_×

Ash Artanya and Russell Firkins belong to @jafanadis

Estevan Aguliar and Rolando Correa belong to @mrboogerlip

Another giftfic hooray!! And it takes place in an alternate universe???? YAY!!!

For context, this is an Alternate Universe or AU where our silly wittle gym bro, Ethan Cho, was born {or cursed} with the ability to see and talk to those who have passed on only for his super sensitive, crybaby boyfriend, Milo to basically say goodbye in the worst way possible. Ethan, feeling the immense and intense guilt over not being able to stop Milo from doing what he did, hid Milo's corpse in the closet, and is now tethered with the ghost of his deceased boyfriend, haunting him endlessly while also having to deal with their friends finding out that Milo is dead by making a copious amount of lies while also hiding his ability to see ghost.

This giftfic is an add-on to Ethan's problems, now he has to hide the fact that he allowed Milo to possess him. Which is very VERY bad for the both of them since well, Milo is a very VERY broken and disorted spirit, despite being a newer spirit whose form should not be as bad as it is! He literally doesn't have a jaw anymore and can't speak, only making grunts and groans. He's also very prone to causing extremely unpredictable and hazardous outburst! Milo's very dangerous and can also be hostile which is just odd since again, he's a newer spirit, he died not to long ago but he can also feel pain??? Even, Ethan, the literal person who can see and talk to ghost finds his own boyfriend, strange and he might even be scared of him...

~~~

The first thing he did was light the candles and turn off the bathroom light and close the door before filling the tub up with freezing cold water. Since he had been surfing down old forums for quite some time now, he found the perfect ritual for the two of them!

They could finally be together! In one vessel!

 And while the ritual did mention possible side-effects, he didn't care one bit!

Everything had to be perfect!

He was becoming so desperate and his paranoia had been eating him up for so long that at this point, he'd rather let his lover take full control over his body than to be stuck with no one at all, even if it was just for a day…

"Okay, Candles, check. Water, check. Everything turned off check, check, check! Now all I need to do is…"

Ethan began to read the ritual's steps off his phone and croaked. He was supposed to fill the tub up first, then light the candles. He simply scuffed at the rules in front of him and pushed them aside.

"Oh well, getting a few things wrong never hurt anyone! Right, Milo?"

No response? Odd? Infact Ethan didn't even notice that now it was quiet.

Too quiet…

No ticking, no clicking, not even a single groan. Ethan shook his head. Now wasn't the time to start fooling around, that's what essentially got him in this mess in the first place!

While scrolling down the steps page, he came across the 5th step. Fear painted his face as he scrolled back up before finally checking his notifications. It was a text message…from the group chat…

"A trip to the movies? And a sleepover!?!"

Ethan bit his lip as he looked at the knife that sat on the board. Maybe if he did it as quick as possible then he'd have enough time to get dress, pack some of his things in a bag and-

Wait! What about the corpse!?!

Ethan covered his ears and shook his head once again, "Ignore it! Now's not the time! Stop getting distracted, you nut-brain!"

He quickly typed back and told the chat to pick him up around…8:30, before steadily moving his phone away from the board, taking off his shirt and picking up the knife.

He had never done this before so he had to be pretty careful, otherwise he could end up dead too. He rolled up his shirt and put it in his mouth to bite down on so his neighbors couldn't hear him scream and began to mark himself with an X on his chest, blood spilling on the sprite board.

Panting and shaking, Ethan knew he had to go quicker. It was already 7:49, after all. 

He began to cut a little faster but quaked when he accidentally went too deep and proceeded to hack up the shirt as well as small splotches of blood out of his mouth as a reflex or his body's way of telling to stop with this crazy stuff and to just accept the fact that Milo was-

"No! It's always been me and him, and I'm not gonna let him down now!"

Ethan pulled the knife out of his chest and stood up before instantly holding onto the bathroom sink, panting. Sweat ran down his face as he wiped the blood from his mouth before compressing the bleeding wound with his hand. Because even though he wanted to be with Milo forever, he didn't want to die either!

Feeling his head spin from the possible blood loss he was experiencing, Ethan grabbed his shirt and put it over the wound before taking off his pants with his free hand while the other occupied keeping him alive. He threw his pants along with his boxers and took two steps backwards before clumsily falling into the tub, water splashing everywhere.

As the cold cold water took him under, he closed his eyes and began to drift off into a somberful sleep…

~~~

“ETHAN!?!”

A familiar voice called out as he was dragged out of the water, gasping for air. Water drizzled hastily down his hair as he tried to make out who had just said his name and pulled him out of the tub.

As he looked up, his vision became more clear.

It was Russell and Rolando? What were they doing here?

Sitting upright in the tub, Ethan looked around, mouth agape with a shocked expression on his face. Clearly he had no idea what was going on or how he even got in the tub in the first place or why there was blood scattered across the bathroom floor and sink.

Rolando was the first to finally break the silence within the bathroom as he and Russell helped Ethan out of the tub and wrapped his waist with a nearby towel, before letting him sit down in between them so he could collect his thoughts.

"Y-You alright, little man. Looked like you were trying to summon a ghost or something in here?"

As Rolando looked around, his boyfriend, Estevan then altered the three that he had found something.

Something sharp!

Ash, who had been helping Estevan examine the bathroom for any scenes of a break in, spoke up once he saw the object.

"A…knife?"

Estevan nodded. He put the knife in a plastic bag and began looking for more clues. As a police officer, it was his job anyway to serve and protect.

Russell then integrated once he smelled something foul, "Bleh! Anyone else smell that?"

Rolando scrunched his nose and gagged, "I knew I smelled something off when we came in earlie. It almost smells like-"

"A rotting corpse?"

Ash turned his nose upwards before quickly realizing it was coming from the bedroom. He turned to Estevan and asked if they could go investigate over there to which Estevan nodded in response.

"We can check the bedroom, but I don't think we're gonna find anything in there either. The only thing I found were fingerprints on the knife and, well, of course the bloody footprints. Some small, some big."

Estevan bit his lip as Rolando raised his hand to speak. He realized something was a bit off about that last sentence.

"That doesn't make any sense, babe? How can there be small footprints…and big footprints?"

Estevan blushed. He tried to say something but pulled away once Rolando had called him babe. Aww! What a sensitive guy!

Russell then rolled his eyes, "Now's not the time to start flirting, you two! Ethan's already traumatized as it is! Look at him!"

As the other three shifted their attention over to Ethan, he looked up at them and then back around the room, mouth now closed. He was shivering and shaking from the cold water that was now dripping onto the already ruined floor.

"Ethan, speak!"

"He's not a dog, Rolando-"

Before Ash could finish his sentence, Ethan shouted back, blood drooling out of his mouth.

"...Speak!"

The others slowly backed away as Ethan started giggling and smiling to himself which soon turned into manic laughter as he rocked back and forth, blood dripping down his mouth as that laughter soon turned into manic crying as he repeated the word 'speak' over and over. 

Until Rolando shouted at him again, "Ethan, stop!"

And just like that, Ethan immediately stopped smiling. As his laughing steadily subsided, he gave his friends a death glare before continuing to rock back and forth, this time only slower.

"Soooo, we're just gonna ignore what just what just-Hey! Where are you two going?"

Rolando got up and immediately halted Estevan and Ash walking out of the bathroom to which Estevan turned around and rolled his eyes.

"To the bedroom? Duh! I gotta figure out what happened here, it is my job, after all, babe. And besides you two can watch over Ethan…right?"

Rolando gulped as he turned his head and down at Ethan, legs shaking, "I don't know, he seems a little…off."

Russell cleared his throat and fixed his collar, "Yeah, more so than when we bumped into him. Or when we took him out for ice cream? Or when we asked him where Milo was and he just kept dodging the question by telling us that Milo was sick or visiting outside family or-"

Ash pondered as it hit him, "Yeah, wait, a minute? Speaking of Milo…where is he?"

"Ethan, did you try to sacrifice Milo again?"

"Rolando, this isn't the time to be making jokes. We need to find out what happened and more importantly, if it involves Milo in any way. Come on, Ash."

As Estevan and Ash finally walked out of the bathroom, Russell sighed.

"This is ludicrous…"

Rolando turned to face his red-headed friend and gave him a smile.

"Don't worry, Russell. At least, Ethan's…okay?"

The two turned their attention to Ethan, who was as quiet as a mouse and looking down at the floor, still rocking back and forth as if he was in a trance. Rolando tried to get his attention again like before but this time Ethan remained completely silent causing Rolando to sigh and lift his head up back to Russell.

"Hey, Russell, can you pass that rag over there so I can clean off Ethan's face, thanks dude!"

Russell got up and walked over to the towel rack by the toilet and put his hand on the pink rag, picking it up and handing it to Rolando.

"This one?"

Rolando pointed to the other rag sitting across from the pink rag, "No, no, the green one."

Russell nodded and picked up the green rag, handing it to Rolando, before sitting back down on the edge of the tub to think.

"If Ethan's okay?"

Russell paused, He looked up at Rolando with sad, worried eyes and forced himself to smile. They both knew that something was wrong but they just couldn't figure out why?

"Milo should be okay too, right?"

A weak chuckle escaped Rolando's lips as he nodded.

"Milo's definitely fine! It's not like he would just up and leave without telling any of us after all. And besides if someone did try to hurt Milo, we'd be the first to know! Right, Ethan?"

Silence…

Not a single word escaped Ethan's lips…

~~~

In the bedroom, by the window was when Ash had spotted his first ever clue as Estevan studied the rest of the room on his own. 

On top of the lamp table on the right side of the bed was a bottle of what seemed to be pink prescription pills. He picked up the bottle and read the bold labeled sticker that was on the side and raised an eyebrow.

"Allium? What's that?"

Ash asked as he handed the bottle over to Estevan, who also raised an eyebrow as he read to label.

"Allium? I…I never heard of this before or at all even?"

"Is…", Ash gulped, "Is it illegal?"

"Ash, please. Does Milo look like the type of guy who would take drugs? Let alone, buy them?"

Ash shook his head as a snicker escaped his and Estevan's lips before they continued back to examining the room.

"Though, I am curious, where did you find those?"

The elfen-man pointed over to the lamp table where he had found his first clue, it also had several pink pills, a half-empty warm water bottle and a pink opened journal scattered on top of it. There was also a broken draw that had its hinges completely ripped off and some of the screws were covered in what seemed to be…blood? It became clear to the two that this was probably something way more than just a weird break in.

The first thing Estevan did was pick up the screws with his gloved hands and put them in a little baggy just like he had done with the knife that now sat on Ethan's study desk, next to his computer that was left on and displayed several pictures of Milo, and just Milo only.

"Aww, it seems Ethan was trying to scrapbook some photos! Look, Estevan!"

Ash walked over to the computer and pointed at it before sitting down on the large neon green and coal black ‘gamer’ chair and swiveled himself around to face the computer.

Estevan gave Ash a puzzled look, "You're gonna check Ethan's computer for clues?"

"Mm-hm! Seemed he also left a few tabs open too! I mean there's the usual tabs like Minecraft for free, cats pictures and…how to stop comparing my elf friend to a tomato?"

Ash paused and cleared his throat. He then picked back up with reading all of Ethan's tabs.

"Oh, there's also, how to swim without drowning? How to fight my friends? What should I do if I run out of toothpaste? There's also the more…personal stuff. Maybe, after this we should talk with Ethan and-"

"Let me, see."

"Huh?"

"The tabs. I wanna see if there's anything else, Ash."

"O-oh. Go ahead, be my guest."

Ash got up and gave Estevan a nervous smile. He watched as the man sat down and started to comb through all of Ethan's tabs.

"Sweet Jesus, how many tabs does this guy have open? Just look at this! And I can't even find the naughty stuff!"

Ash cleared his throat and raised his hand to speak, "So we're done here right? But about the Allium? And the journal? We haven't read that pink journal yet! I'm a bit curious to see what's inside."

"Well, I already have the Allium pills in this little baggy here. Gonna take them to the lab to get them tested, after our movie of course. Rolando did…promise me."

Estevan blushed as Ash made his way back to the pink journal. It had a fluffy, soft case with a brown chocolate bunny on it and looked to have been a quick and cheap easter gift judging by the fact there were also colorful eggs surrounding the tiny chocolate bunny.

As Ash skimmed through page one, he soon realized this wasn't any journal but a diary and judging by the small yet neat handwriting, he could tell who exactly this diary belonged to.

Coming back to reality, Estevan hovered behind Ash and asked, "So what's it say?"

To which Ask simply replied with a sigh and a sad smile as he began to read the diary out to him.

Dear Diary

You know, this is the greatest gift Ethan has ever got me! It's sweet yet simple! He tries to be so over the top sometimes with his gifts like how on Valentine's Day he got me a cruise ship! Yes a cruise ship, completely covered in red and pink valentine's day theme tinsel and bows. There was also tons and tons of chocolate, all of which came delivered to us melted but I didn't care I was just so happy I almost started crying! I love that man with all my heart and I really REALLY wish I could treat him the same way he treats me! I'll just have to try harder to outdo him! Next Valentine's Day will be my year! 

Oh and speaking of gifts, I also just got some new pills from the pharmacy today, Allium pills! My doctor says they're supposed to ease my anxiousness and sadness, so I took one right away. I don't really feel any different sadly? I just feel the same. Maybe some snacks will help! I've been in the mood for some popcorn lately…

So...

I burnt the popcorn…

I thought the timer said 4:50 but it actually said 1:50 and I ended up burning my popcorn and when Ethan got home, I told him and he immediately just patted my head, gave me a kiss and said he'll make me a new bag. I told him I could make it myself but he insisted that I go and relax. I'm still not used to having others do things for me since I've been so used to doing things on my own…it hurts a little but I don't know why? Oh, well.

Ethan gave me my popcorn and we sat down and watched his entire dvd collection of his favorite show, Paranormal Night. He told me that he was so lucky to have found the entire season 1 season 2 on sale and now he could relive his childhood! I just found the show to be a bit odd though, but that might be because I didn't really grow up with as much of this type of punk, gothic, emo stuff. Unlike my adorable, boobalicious, bear~bear! He loves this stuff and he's even asked me once if I could help him get back into painting his nails and helping him with his eyeliner. 

I think for next Christmas I'll get him those platform boots he's been asking for! On top of that, Christmas is also his birthday! Yay! So I might even get him his very own choker so we can match!

+++

So we just got done watching episode 9 of Paranormal Night, Ethan did warn me earlier that that episode was very…bad I guess? I dunno how to explain it tee~hee! I did walk out though once it started to get a bit too real but I did not cry! I am a grown-man! I can handle a few…bad thoughts you know! 

After I walked back in, Ethan tried his best to comfort me but I told him that I was fine and just needed a breather. I guess he didn't believe me though, because he started wrapping me up in the covers and hugging me. But again I did not cry! I am fine! And I wish everyone would stop asking ME if I'm okay! 

I'm gonna go to bed, goodnight!

Dear Diary

I tried going out with the boys today but I just didn't feel like getting out of bed. Ethan tried to bribe me with cupcakes and cookies and candies like he always does but it just didn't work. And now, while I'm here writing my thoughts, Russell and Estevan {my frens <3} blow up my phone and send me pictures saying how they wished I was here with them, getting ice cream and sweet buns. Maybe next time? I mean the three of us haven't hung out in like forever so…I dunno?

I just took an Allium pill and still nothing. But I do feel a bit dazed and like I'm just really really tired. I might just make this a short entry for now, so goodnight?

+++

Forget sleeping, the boys came back and brought me ice cream, vanilla with rainbow sprinkles, my favorite. We all sat down in the living room and talked for a bit until Rolando pointed out my sleepybags. I just shrugged it off and told everyone not to worry and that I was just tired, which was true. I almost fell asleep in the middle of our conversation but immediately forced myself to stay awake. 

After that little convo between me and Rolando, Estevan suggested that we, and by we I mean all of us, go see a movie. I flat-out refused. Told him, I was just too tired. Russell turned to me and asked me why I was being so off lately and I just told him, like how I told Estevan, I was just way too tired. 

But the truth is I didn't know why I was being so off either? 

And I think Russell knew that. 

Because he turned to Estevan and before I knew it they both pulled me aside and began to ask if I was okay. 

And just like before I told them I was tired but it seemed they didn't get the memo because then they started to ask why I was shaking? 

Or why did I look so sad?

I tried to smile to show them that I was okay but they saw right through it. 

Russell tried to hug me and Estevan tried to talk to me but I just…I dunno stepped back in fear maybe? I ended up making them both sad but I didn't feel bad at all in fact I just felt so out it?

I need a drink…of apple juice because I'm responsible!

Goodnight.

Dear Diary

I pushed through and finally went outside for the first time in ages. No bridging needed. The drive took ages though! Just to get to Ciero from where we live, it took like 10 hours! Maybe even longer! I fell asleep during half of the ride there though and by the time I woke up, we had to make ANOTHER pit stop for gas!

Right now I'm kinda just chilling on the couch, wearing my favorite dress and writing this all down. I do feel a bit off but that's probably because I haven't been out in sooooo long and to be surrounded by all my friends, still just feels way too weird for me. Maybe I should try to be more social? But there's nothing for me to really talk about.

Estevan and Rolando are more mature, more stoic, more laid back, ya know while Ash and Russell are more kind, more energetic, and easy to talk to but I don't know? I feel like if I talk to any of them, I'm gonna make a fool out of myself! 

Maybe I should just stay in my little corner?

Dear Diary

I don't know what to write anymore. I've been flipping through these messy, scribbled pages to find anything else to write about but seems I'm just stuck.

Stuck on writing. Stuck on drawing.

Stuck on everything!

I can't do anything!

My past is still ingrained in my mind, the friends that I have lost and the friends that I have gained are starting to intertwine with one another and the old friends are taking over! Everywhere I go, I see their faces! Taunting me, haunting me! Reminding me that I am nothing! I will always be known as Milo JOSIAH Campbell! Yet I am trying to change and change does take time, I know that but now people...belittle me as if I'm some child and not an adult struggling with himself every single day! The cuts on my arms, the markings my neck, my bruised up knees and tormented skin are all signs that I do need help and I want others to listen to my pain and yet...

I'm scared...

The rest of the pages had been scribbled out with blood red ink, before being attacked by childlike drawings of his missing friend.

Estevan glanced up at Ash with a troublesome expression and began to say something but stopped once they heard as THUMP, coming straight from the bathroom.

Ash tossed the diary down by closet and ran right behind Estevan and what the two had saw shocked them to their core.

Rolando and Russell had been holding Ethan down on the hard titled floor to restrain him. When Estevan questioned why they were restraining him and what even happened, that's when Ethan glanced up at him and let out a cold hiss. A large bloody wound had appeared on Ethan's forehead, clearly it wasn't there before but neither was the broken, crimson stained glasses beneath their feet.

Ash's eyes grew wide with fear as he stood there, shaking. He looked over to Estevan for guidance but it seems, he too, was afraid.

"Hold him still!"

Rolando shouted at Russell as he squeezed Ethan's left arm to try and restrain him better but also to stop the endlessly squirming and kicking.

"I-I'm trying! It's just that-OW!"

And even biting.

Russell pulled back, and looked down at his arm. His skin had been tore apart by teeth as a familiar crimson liquid leaked out of his arm altering his lover of his pain. Once Ash had pulled an injured Russell away from the commotion to bandage him up, Estevan stepped in to restrain Ethan. He knew he could handle a few markings to the arm yet what he wasn't prepared for was the endlessly ear-piercing screams and wails that had escaped Ethan's mouth once Estevan got a hold of him. They were so high-pitch it made everyone in that messy bathroom cover their ears!

"M-m-make it stop!"

Russell was the first to cry out. Once he could feel himself start to become uncomfortable and distracted by the screaming and waling and endlessly crying, his flapped his hands and started to cry himself, a sign his way having a meltdown. He sat himself down and huddled himself in a lonely corner by the bathroom door, putting his knees close to his chest and his head down in his lap. Ash, being the sweet and naturing boyfriend he was, sat down next to Russell and pulled him close to him, covering Russell's ears as a way to just block off this noise!

As Rolando and Estevan struggled to hold Ethan down any longer, they glanced up at each other. One was shaking with fear and worry, trying so desperately to figure out what was wrong with his friend as tears streamed down his face while the other looked content. Sure he was also a bit afraid and maybe even a bit upset that he had to do this in the first place, but still it was better safe than sorry. It became clear to him that his friend was most likely a danger now and had definitely tried to hurt himself!

After all why would there be glass everywhere? A shattered mirror? A bleeding gash in his head? It was all adding up in his head!

Their glance then turned sway from one another and at the duo sitting in their corner. Ash swallowed his spit and wipe his tears, while he was more concerned about Russell's safety he was also very worried about Ethan's.

This wasn't the Ethan THEY knew!

The goofy and annoyingly gullible, ego-driven gym bro who was the first to help out anyone in need and cheer up your day? Sure he would, if unknowingly, be a bit of jerk and was sorta self-centered but still, he meant well.

What happened to him?

First, he had closed himself off to everything and everyone around him, only going outside when pressured or bribed, not once ever escaping the lousily and grim apartment on his own. He had lost all interest in his favorite hobbies such as going to the gym, drawing, and even play videogames. He stopped taking care of himself and started to live day after day in a paranoid and crazed state, frequently checking over his shoulder and he began to contain himself in a dazed world to espace whatever trouble he was dealing with.

And now, here he was screaming, kicking, and even biting his own friends as if they were strangers who had invade his home! Obstacles, even!

He couldn't care less if they got hurt as long as none of them figured out the truth, he could stay contained in his own little bubble forever!

Just him and his love lost in his imagination about what he could've done differently that day! After all, love conquers all right? Right?

Then why? Why couldn't he save-!

"Ethan, stop!"

And just like that...it was over...

Ethan stopped.

Resting his head on the bathroom, Ethan fell into an semi-unconscious, harmless state and let out a small, soft groan. Once his body had rested, Rolando and Estevan finally released him from their grasp.

Getting up, Rolando dusted himself off and looked down at his boyfriend, who stared worried at the other man laying down in front of him.

"Estevan..." Rolando paused before Estevan scooped Ethan up and held him close to his chest. Clutching his soft, ebony hair in his hand while rocking him back and forth. Clearly this was completely out of the ordinary for Estevan to do! He didn't really tolerated Ethan so why was he comforting him?

"Are you okay, babe?"

With misery in his eyes, Estevan nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay."

Yet he fumbled and quivered on his words. Rolando could see the tears coming from a mile away yet Estevan simply ignored them.

"But this isn't about me right now! Something happened here! Forget the movie, forget the sleepover!"

Estevan pulled the other man closer to his chest yet it seemed Ethan didn't even notice on bit, he was falling in and out of a dazed and confused consciousness trying his best to hold onto his sanity as his eyes started to become cloudy and flash a quick pink before turing back to brown over and over yet none of them seemed to notice.

"We need to help Ethan! And we need to find Milo."

Rolando gulped and shifted his eyes over to Ash abd Russell, "No matter how long it takes?"

Whenever Estevan needed or even wanted to solve a case you knew you were in for a wild ride. He was calculated and quick and he always strived to complete even the most gruesome of cases in the name of justice.

"No matter how long it takes."

Silence...

Ash raised his hand to speak up and questioned this little mission Estevan had planned. He just didn't really understand it and found a flaw.

"So we're going to help Ethan? But how? We don't even know what's wrong with him! I mean he looks a bit dehydrated and very very frail but that's it! How are we suppose to help him?"

Rolando cleared his throat before folding his arms as he early began to list off the strange and abnormal hings Ethan had done.

"And the fact he banged his head on the mirror until it shattered, bit Russell, screamed so loud I think his vocal cords might've shattered, oh and the time blood started to pour out of his mouth and-"

"Okay! I get it!"

Ash hissed before shifting to the side and putting his knee close to his chest and head in his lap, letting out a muffled, "Ethan's sick."

Russell adjusted his shirt and let out a cough. He wiped his tears away and looked up with teary jaded-eyes.

"Don't forget the fact we found him semi-drowning."

He then paused and fiddled his red hair, "On top of that, Ash does make a great point! We don't know what's wrong with Ethan. But we also don't know where Milo is, so how are we suppose to find him?"

Rolando bit his lip, "Well, we can always ask-"

"You know we can't ask Ethan!"

Estevan snapped, seeing where this conversation was heading. Everyone in that room knew Ethan was too sick to begin with, so a bombard of questions regarding Milo was pointless, even though they were all worried about him.

The answers Ethan had given them already didn't make any sense! Milo was like a roach, out of sight until he found him sitting in a corner by himself but once you've turned your back, he'd disappear again.

Rolando put his back again the bathroom wall and rolled his eyes, "So, you're suggestion we wait?"

Estevan nodded, "Until Ethan get's better."

Russell shifted his eyes, shook his head and finally got up, fist clenched.

"Not to accuse Ethan of lying, but I've been wanting to say this for some time now and I truly believe that," He paused and glanced over at Ethan, resting in Estevan's arms, "He's been hiding something from us. I don't know what but remember that smell from earlier? It was definitely a corpse!"

Ash let out a nervous chuckle and got up to confront his love.

A bit concerned, he raised an eyebrow" "Are you saying that Ethan murdered Milo? D-don't be ridiculous, my Russell! Ethan, well, he wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"No! Of course not! It's just that-that-!"

Trying to find the right words to string together, Russell hesitated as he watched Estevan get up with Ethan in his arms and shake his head.

"Alright, this conversation is going nowhere. Let's get little bro-bro all bandaged up and into some clothes and head out of this crime scene of a house!"

Rolando snickered, "Little bro-bro? Since when were you two brothers?"

"Erm, just now! What? You guys think I wouldn't make an awesome big brother?"

Estevan chuckled as Rolando rolled his eyes and headed out of the bathroom with Ash and Russell following right behind him.

And as Estevan stepped out with Ethan tucked his arms, he looked down at him and gave him a smile which slowly disappeared, once Ethan spoke up, his voice was extremely raspy and dry.

"You'd make an awful big brother, Evey..."

Estevan raised an eyebrow and let out a confused snicker, "Awful?"

To which Ethan replied with soft tears in his eyes, lips quivering as he spoke up in a now somber voice, "I'm sorry."

Silence...

Estevan was puzzled as Ethan clinged onto his shirt, crying even harder now.

"Huh, Ethan what are you talking about? You didn't do anything wrong? Well, expect for when you bite Russell, but that's about it!"

"Yes, I did! I did do something wrong but I CAN'T tell you!"

Estevan sighed and lifted Ethan closer to him. He knew Ethan was sick. Physically, he had this huge cut in his chest, a gash on his head and looked like a totally mess and mentally, he was broken. Whatever had happened, it had sacred him.

"Oh, Ethan." Estevan ruffled Ethan's hair and followed it up with a smile, "Everything's going to be okay! I'm promise!"

Ethan sniffed and huffed softly while he trembled in Estevan's arms. He knew that was lie! Everything wasn't going to be okay it was just going to get worse and worse for him!

The last thing he said to the other man before falling back into a mute state sent chills down Estevan's spin.

"I'm scared..."

~~~

Woo-hoo! It is finally finished!! I didn't forgot about my au, I've just been dealing with a lot of writer's block lately...

Also sorry to @jafanadis is Ash and Russell are written out of character and sorry to @mrboogerlip is Rolando and Estevan are written out of character...again I try my hardest to stay in character but then my interpretations just takes over...

[darrens-toyhouse]

The Haunting of Ethan Cho: Oh, Love...

Trigger Warning for mentions of self-harm, mentions of sexual themes and mild-swearing!

Ash Artanya and Russell Firkins belong to @jafanadis

Estevan Aguliar and Rolando Correa belong to @mrboogerlip

Another au fanfic??? And this one is soooo long not surprised it took me days to just finish it!!

~~~

Sitting right in front of the young man was a vanilla cake with orange frosting and little black bat sprinkles overtop it as well as the words, “Happy Birthday Milo! We Love You!” written in black frosting. While he wasn't used to celebrating his own birthday, in fact he hated when his birthday rolled around as it was a constant reminder of his birth, he could never give up on cake, especially vanilla pudding cake!

Watching everyone in the room cheer him on, Milo's lips started to quiver a little as if he was about to start crying. He wasn't used to this much encouragement.

“Go on, little dude, make a wish!”

Hollered Rolando, who smiled wide with excitement, taking a picture of his “little dude”!

The bright flash became brighter and brighter with each snap as Rolando continued to take more and more pictures with his phone, leaving Milo in the same static, empty pose. He never smiled for pictures, and especially group photos, unless they were taken by his love. Oh, how Milo wished he had Rolando's ability to wear a smile on his face and not hide his past under a façade.

“We know you can do it!”

Russell chuckled softly before adjusting his noise-canceling headphones to block out the sound of the others. Right now, he needed to focus on Milo and not get distracted by other things. 

He would clap and cheer his friend on whenever Milo glanced his way and would even hold up a little sign that read, “You can do it, buddy!” It left a pit in Milo's stomach to see someone cheer him on so proudly that he thought he was going to throw up. He knew what Russell was saying was genuine but he still had to tell himself, it was nothing more than a just dream.

“J-just try to be c-c-careful, okay!”

Ash stammered with worry as he fiddled with his hands. Being an elf from another planet, he wasn't used to seeing such a small flame light up in front of someone's face and was terrified by the idea of Milo getting hurt by it! Even holding a little handmade FristAid kit, containing bandages, casting tape, medicine and herbs for both humans and Otacaians. 

All of that just in case it was time to cut the cake and Milo knew this. Ash had seen Milo's injuries before and assumed Milo was just very very clumsy, maybe even more so than Ethan, so being the kind and caring friend he was, he would ask to patch Milo up! Yet Milo always refused. Why would Ash want to patch up his disgusting wounds? He had hurt him in the past so, shouldn't he hate him? It didn't make sense to Milo.

“You got this! We believe in you!”

Estevan laughed, before giving Milo a thumbs up to assure him that he could do it! No matter how hard he tried! He must never ever give up! If you don't succeed the first time, don't quit! Try and try again! That's what Estevan always taught him.

Whenever Milo wanted to give up, Estevan was always there to pick him up off the ground and wipe away his tears with a handkerchief or cloth, before walking him through his mistakes, through his own pace, and reassuring him that it was just a mistake and that they happen! Milo saw it differently however. Estevan could never make mistakes! He wasn't like Milo who was a mistake in every way! Estevan was the definition of justice and pride! 

Milo was just a failure.

Yet under all this cheering and celebratory laughter, none of them could never compare to how Milo felt about a certain someone. His eyes scooped the room, he counted in his head backwards before finally landing on his number one. Turning his head around, he felt a hand wrap itself around his waist.

“I’m proud of you.”

Ethan Cho.

His love, his light, his muse, his everything! He couldn't dare see himself leaving Ethan's side. He was everything Milo strived to truly be! 

A person who could just be themselves, a person who could just move on even if it took baby-steps, a person who could forget but not forgive the people who hurt him! Here he was, caressing and comforting his boyfriend, cheering him on and telling him how proud he was of him, something no one had ever told Milo before! To be proud of someone for just being here meant everything to Milo! He didn't even do anything to make Ethan “proud of him” such as doing the laundry or helping him clean, he was just here.

That's what made Milo upset…

Earlier he had felt as if he was about to cry and throw up yet he held his emotions back and swallowed the rest of his lunch. He turned to the lit pink candle and took a deep breath before finally letting the only light left go out and turn the room pit black as the cheers and words of encouragement got louder and louder and while everyone else was celebrating a happy night, Milo just stood there, empty. His eyes, droopy and mouth, a frown. 

The bags under his eyes had become noticeable now and he felt his heart start to sink yet for some inexplicable reason he just couldn't shed a single tear.

Letting out a sigh, Milo looked up at his friends before turning to face Ethan and for a brief moment, he felt alone. He turned back to the cake and looked down at it in shame.

“We love you?”

He repeated in a confused manner before looking down at his own two hands. The memories flooded back in his mind as he started to slowly daze into his own little fantasy land where this party never happened.

“I wish I knew why…”

After his friends had left with their plates of food carefully wrapped in tinfoil, wishing him a happy birthday before they walked out the door, Milo stood by. Here he was still sitting at the table with his little birthday crown neatly placed on his head. His eyes, drained of all their color, whilst he stared at the open box of cake, emotionless, completely ignoring his boyfriend who stood across from him, carefully cutting out a big slice just for his bunny-boo!

“Do you want some more cake, Milo? There's a whole lot more left!”

Ethan winked, shaking his behind! Sure, there was barely anything back there, matter of fact he was quite flat as a board in the back yet Ethan felt that enticing Milo a bit would cheer him right up after all he could see it on his face. Milo looked unhappy, more so he looked depressed.

Hearing his name, Milo snapped out of his trance and perked up at Ethan with a smile on his face, “Oh. Yes, I do!”

Yet Ethan could tell that smile was fake. Something was wrong but for some inexplicable reason Milo didn't want to tell him and that made Ethan feel some sort of way. Was he not trying hard enough to make Milo happy?

“Am I,” Ethan paused, shifting his eyes to avoid any eye contact with Milo as the pit in his stomach made him croak up like a frog, “a horrible boyfriend?”

Milo raised an eyebrow. A light confused chuckle escaped his lips. 

He shook his head in disagreement, “No, not at all! Why would you even say that?”

“Because you look so miserable, Milo! I can see it all over your face!”

“Miserable?”

Ethan put the knife down on a lonely napkin and let out an upset huff, cheeks now red. His lips quivered as his mouth frowned and eyes watered.

“Maybe having this party was a bad idea.”

Hearing that made Milo scoot back and stand up in his chair. He took off the golden crown that was supposed to make him feel special but instead he felt that he was nothing more but a burden to Ethan. 

He glanced down at the cake and then up at his boyfriend, wanting so desperately to walk over there and just pull him into a tight hug and start whispering sweet nothings and words of comfort and care, but due to feeling so bad for making Ethan feel he wasn't doing enough and that he was bad boyfriend because of that, Milo couldn't.

“I-I just wanted to do something special for my bunny-boo. What did I do wrong?”

A hushed whimper escaped Ethans lips. He pondered and pondered, trying his hardest to figure out what he did wrong.

Maybe he really was a neglectful boyfriend? Ethan panicked in his seat only to be met with Milo rolling his eyes and angrily tossing the crown that he had made for him down on the table before finally walking off into their bedroom only to stop in his tracks once he had heard his chair scoot across the hard wooden floor, leaving markings behind as Ethan ran over to him putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Wait!”

Ethan began, his voice quaking up with tears that began to stream down his worried face, “Milo, please I just want to talk. I'm worried about you, babe! I really am worr-”

Letting out an annoyed yet also frankly irritated sigh, Milo cut his boyfriend off and spoke up in a harsh tone, “Ethan, you are so annoying.”

“M-Milo, I know that! But please, I just want to talk! Either I did something really stupid or something else is bothering you, but please…”

Ethan paused, staring Milo down with pleading eyes, begging to know what he had done or what was on Milo's mind at that moment and time. He knew he'd be willing to listen to whatever Milo would or could vent out but he also knew Milo had to invite him in. He couldn't just pressure or coerce Milo into talking as that could cause Milo to shut himself out even further so instead he backed off a bit giving Milo one last chance to sit down and talk about his emotions.

“Talk to me.”

When Ethan's emotions had settled, Milo smiled softly and booped Ethan's nose, much to Ethan's puzzlement. He didn't know why Milo had booped his nose but needles to say, he was uncomfortable.

Letting out a tiny giggle, followed by a yawn, Milo rubbed the dark circles around his eyes and replied in a soft voice, “Babe, I'm fine, alright. I'm just sleepy, that's all.”

“Sleepy?”

“Mm-hm!” 

Another yawn escaped Milo's mouth as he stretched his arms, “Goodnight, my love.”

Before he walked into the bedroom, plopped himself right on the bed and began to curl himself under the covers like a sleepy little cat.

“Are you not at least going to change into something a bit more comfortable? I mean that dress is pretty big and poofy, bunny-boo.”

Milo shrugged at Ethan's concerns and switched over to a more comfortable side of the bed, hiding himself under the covers as he did so.

“No, I'm fine.”

Hearing those words made Ethan unsure. He knew Milo was not fine and his gut was telling him to just climb under those covers and give him all the love he needed, but he didn't want to pry like earlier in fear Milo would shut down.

With a troubled expression on his face, Ethan glanced up at Milo and with a soft voice, he asked, “Are you sure you're okay?”

Milo hesitated to respond. Lifting his head from out of the covers, he would fiddle with his fluffy pink hair and breathe heavily but would try to control his nerves as best as he could to not let his emotional vulnerability get the better of him, a first for sure as Milo was a huge crybaby.

With a small smile, Milo blinked a bit, the tears were already approaching. 

Holding himself together by wiping his tears as quickly as he could so Ethan couldn't see or even get a glimpse of him crying out, Milo let out a hushed, voice-cracking, “Yes.”

Not knowing what to say, Ethan backed himself by the door and swiftly headed out, closing it behind him so he could give Milo some privacy. He knew his love definitely needed it after being bombarded with gifts, games and laughter.

Cleaning up the tablecloth of all the confetti, Ethan looked down at a pink sparkly piece of confetti wrapped around his finger and immediately blew it away, watching it land on the floor along with the other pieces. If only they were two pieces of colorful confetti then maybe they wouldn't have to worry so much. Dusting off every last bit of confetti, a sneeze escaped Ethan's lips followed by dust from the dust pan and the bottom of the broom to sweep itself into the air causing his eyes to water a bit. Hastily getting rid of the all mess he turned to the now closed cake box and lifted it off the table, carefully storing it away with Milo's cake slice that was neatly wrapped together in tinfoil and sat still on an orange and black paper plate. It even had a little yellow sticky note reading in blue ink, “Just For Bunny~Boo! DO NOT TOUCH!” 

Pinpointing and re-checking all the mess that was now gone, Ethan then made his way back to the table and slouched down in his chair. While he didn't feel like taking off the table cloth of the “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” banner, he knew he'd have to do it after all it would be sorta off to just have that banner there with the balloons still wrapped around it. 

Stretching his biceps by flexing to no one in the room, Ethan's eyes then shifted away from his muscles and to the frosted coated knife that sat still on its lonely napkin. He picked it up, examined it for a bit before sighing, begging to wave it around as if it were a toy while he started to double check the room to make sure NO ONE, not even Milo, was listening.

“You say you're fine,” Ethan began, hesitating on his words as he tossed the knife in the air over and over again, stumbly catching it each time it landed on the table, “But you're not. And I know you're not! You just look so miserable. But maybe, I can help you!”

Staring up at the knife in his hands, Ethan bit his lip, pondering what to do for his love tomorrow.

He scooted his chair, stood up and stretched once again, knife still in his hand. He paced around the room flipping the knife again in his hand this time even more wildly and with even more stumbles, while he thought to himself. He knew a movie wouldn't work since all that had been playing this October were campy horror flicks and since Milo was a huge scaredy-cat when it came to horror movies, he knew it was best to just keep Milo at home and not fear him waking up in a cold sweat, whining Ethan's name due to nightmares over a cheesy horror flick like last time.

But he also knew a sleepover, something that Milo used to love to do whenever their friends would come over, wouldn't work either.

The last sleepover they had was just 5 or 4 days ago, and it was in celebrating the countdown to Milo's birthday yet even during the, Milo seemer cold, distant and had been dissociating and daydreaming to the point where he would whisper and act out unknowingly. It was like Milo had become lost. So lost in this fantasy where he couldn't even tell which was real anymore. The outside word, his friend group, his love life, they all had started to become figments in his head. And when he became lost, he would isolate himself. He didn't even want to sleep in the same room as the others, locking himself in the bathroom to avoid his friends and boyfriend so he could live his life in a lonely void.

No wonder Milo looked so miserable, as Ethan had pointed out earlier.

“You probably think you're a burden to them? Or better yet, a burden to me? Don't you, Milo?”

Twiddling with the knife, Ethan sighed, before getting up and tossing it into the sink, letting it soak with the rest of tonight's dishes.

“You're not! You're the sweetest guy! I know, you're so warm, gentle, and maybe you are one hell of a crybaby. But…”

Sitting on the kitchen counter, Ethan looked through the pocket of his jacket and pulled out his phone, scrolling down into the group chat to endless messages of worry and questions, even they were a bit cornered about Milo, asking if he was okay, or if that they didn't try hard enough to make him happy, a bunch of words typed together that meant so much Ethan but so little Milo, something Ethan just didn't get.

“But you're not a burden.”

~~~

By the time morning had rolled around, Ethan tossed himself off the kitchen counter, landing on the floor and awaking the sound of…

Nothing…

There was just silence.

he apartment had been lit up with light from the warm shimmering sun and yet, he heard nothing. His ears didn't ring or buzz or even flutter up because there was no noise for him to hear, no alarms, no gunshots, not even Milo's sweet voice.

Huh? That's odd. Why didn't Milo wake him up today? They would take turns waking each other up in the morning and today was Milo's turn so why hadn't he tapped Ethan's shoulder or whispered his name or given him an abhorrent amount of kisses that covered the man in lipstick of all shades? Better yet, why didn't he wake Ethan up sooner. He had been sleeping on the kitchen counter, cramped in the fetal position between a box of unopened cereal, recipe books, jars of spices, a paper towel rack on his left and a literal stove on his right!

Feeling his back cramp up from not only carrying too much weight in the front that Ethan liked to jiggle around from time to time but also the fact he had been sleeping on the hard crowded counter this entire time!

“Jeez! My back! I mean I know my bitch-tits are pretty big but come on!”

Ethan complained as he heard his back crack a bit before straightening himself up. Of course his posture was already bad but it was probably way worse now.

Slowly walking his way over to the bedroom, Ethan creaked open the door to see Milo was awake? So why didn't he wake Ethan up if he had been up for god knows how long? It didn't make any sense to Ethan.

Stepping his way inside the bedroom, Ethan tossed his jacket aside and sat across from Milo, who was now free from the covers and wearing nothing but a pair of pink laced underwear.

Peeking up, Milo scooted over to Ethan wrapped his hands around his chest, giving him a kiss on the cheek, before resting his head on his shoulder.

“Good morning, bear-bear!”

“Good morning, bunny-boo…”

Ethan snuggled himself against Milo's body wrapping a hand around his lover and slipping it down Milo's behind.

“I see you took off that dress, huh?”

Milo nodded, squeezing Ethan's chest in excitement,  “I was sweating bullets in that dress, so I took it off. My body was so hot!”

Ethan chuckled lightly, now slipping his hand inside Milo's underwear as revenge for him groping and clinging onto his chest. He knew Milo was… handsy so to speak, so as the top or dominant one in their relationship, he had to put his love back in his place.

“I bet I can make your body even hotter, bunny-boo.”

At first Milo was confused. Was that another one of Ethan's shitty pick-up lines of affection? Or a joke? It took him a minute until he realized what Ethan truly meant, his face turned a deep cherry red while his body started to get really really hot and bothered before he felt something poke the inside of his behind causing him to grasp and squeeze Ethan's chest even harder!

Letting out a hot, steamy whimper, Ethan looked down at his love, his cheeks and ears turning a flushed pink.

“You like that, bunny-boo?”

Milo nodded in response before running his hands down Ethan's shirt, groping and squeezing at his boyfriend's chest, hearing him softly moan in delight and pleasure. He loved it when Ethan moaned!

With a seductive yet excitedly ecstatic look, Ethan bit his lip. He watched Milo now let go of his chest and go right down for the zipper of his pants, teasing him a bit by stalling with the zipper.

Sliding his hand away from Milo's behind before whispering in his ear, Ethan let out another soft moan. Tugging and pulling the top of Milo's hair, clutching it in his hands.

 “Your final birthday present! I know you want it, right?”

With Milo's hair tangled in his hand, Ethan pressed his boyfriend's face against his “present” and with ecstasy, started to pant under his breath. He loved watching Milo become extremely submissive and breedable in bed, it made him feel powerful and so full of euphoria and lust, that it changed him! It made him act like a lustful animal! He would press Milo even harder, against his surprise allowing a panting moan to escape Milo's lips as his cheeks turned redder and redder, feeling the “present” rub against his face, as Ethan taunted him! He knew Milo wanted it! He knew his bunny-boo wanted that special 12 inch gift!

“Come on, open it! Open it or you'll be punished!”

Once Ethan let go of Milo's hair he then bit his lip again before smacking Milo's behind. One smack followed another and another and another! Everytime, Milo stalled, Ethan got rougher, slapping his behind, as Milo moaned and moaned, begging for more, until he left a very red and noticeable hand marking.

“Ow! Ah! Oh, daddy, you're being so rough and hard with me!”

“And? Do you want Daddy to punish you even more?”

Without hesitation, Milo nodded with glee as Ethan's hand met his behind this time even harder than the last. While Milo liked it rough, Ethan liked it rougher! He had had his hole and mouth filled up before so he was used to this type of…affectionate behavior, especially when it came from Milo. Even though Ethan was a dominant top, sometimes a top needed to be dominated and bred a bit.

Finally zipping down Ethan's pants, and getting a peek at his surprise, Milo licked his lips and panted. He could feel his heart race as his body became so hot and bothered, he felt as if he was going to pass out with anticipation and pleasure! His gift was right there but wrapped under another layer of green cloth, cloth that Milo ever so eagerly pulled back and-

DING DONG!

In unison, they sat up and looked out the doorway, neither of them wanting to go to the door right now. They were both hot messes and needed at least a little bit of time to cool down.

“T-the doorbell? R-right n-n-now?”

“We were just getting started too! Dammit!”

Milo scooted away from Ethan, allowing his bear-bear to get up and zip his pants back up, before asking for a pillow to hide Milo's…present.

“Y-you sure you want to, bear-bear? It's probably just one of our neighbors, y-y-you know our walls are very…”

“Thin? I know,” Letting out an annoyed groan, Ethan turned to Milo and chuckled, “Guess we made too much noise, love! Stay here, okay.”

Ethan walked out of the bedroom, adjusting the pillow as he approached the front door and twisted the handle, peeking out before looking up and gulping at who he saw at the door.

It was Rolando Correa! With his spiky brown hair and very cute face, he smiled and waved while he carried a red and black duffle bag by his side. He was wearing a pair of black and orange shorts that he stole from his boyfriend, Estevan. Sadly those shorts barely even matched his red and white t-shirt.

And standing behind him, peeking out from within the shadows, diligently waiting for Ethan to notice him was Ash Artanya! With his reddish orange skin and shiny green hair that was just out of this world, he perked up and chuckled, nervously fiddling with his dark blue and black t-shirt that matched his blue and black shorts.

Surprisingly the only thing that matched the two was their shoes. White and black, the perfect shoes for the gym!

“Yo! Hey, Ethan!”

Rolando laughed as he pulled Ethan into a hug, causing the pillow to shift a bit while Ethan hastily adjusted it.

Stumbling on his words Ethan let out a nervous, “H-hey, R-R-Rolando…”

“You alright, little man? You look…” Rolando paused and examined Ethan's body up and down, noticing the sweat that ran down his flustered face, “You look very exhausted. Are you okay?”

Before Ethan could answer, Ash gasped and walked over to him, kneeling down to his level, putting hand on his forehead and checking for any red spots or swirls.

“And you're very w-w-warm too! Oh no, you must be s-sick!”

Softly slapping Ash's hand away, Ethan shook his head and spoke up in a nervous tone, “I-I'm not sick, Ash! I'm just…tired!”

“Tired? But you look very ill and you're shaking!”

“Shaking?”

Ash nodded before putting his hand back on Ethan's forehead, grabbing his arm and lifting up his sleeve to check that Ethan was okay and while nothing was there, Ash was still worried for him.

“Mm-hm! Maybe you should get some rest, we can always come back tomorrow right, Rolando?”

No response. 

Ash stood up, held Ethan's hand and turned to see that Rolando was gone! In a slight panic, Ash began to frantically look around the apartment until he and Ethan heard Rolando's voice coming from the bedroom.

Ash easily and swiftly picked Ethan up as if he were an infant and even held him as such, causing the pillow to drop out of Ethan's hands and land on the floor. Before Ethan could say anything about the pillow, Ash walked over to the bedroom, stood in the doorway and shouted out Rolando's name causing the other man to jump up and swiftly turn around.

“Oh, s-sorry, Ash. I wanted to see if Milo was awake!”

Ash raised an eyebrow as Ethan tugged on his shirt, begging to be put down, yet the other man didn't seem to care at all, instead he lifted Ethan even closer to him.

“Milo? Where is he?”

Rolando pointed to covers that Milo had been hiding under before peeking inside, giving his friend a warm and welcoming smile.

“Right here! I don't know why you're hiding, little dude! You know I don't bite!”

Pulling the covers back over his head, Milo mumbled in an annoyed tone, “Go away,” whilst trying to shove Rolando off the bed.

Ash's pointy ears perked up in worry while Ethan rested his head on Ash's shoulder. 

Clearly, Ethan was both embarrassed, annoyed and maybe even a little bit tired. Seems his lust for his bunny-boo had now begun to slowly subsided.

“M-Milo! Oh goddess, are you sick too?”

Questioned Ash as he demanded that Rolando check Milo's forehead in case he had a fever to which Rolando hesitated at first. He shifted his eyes over to Milo and watched him whine and whimper like a little baby under the covers, before he slightly pulled the covers off until Milo started to cry and kick his feet. He had wanted to spend time with his bear-bear and now it had been ruined, oh the tragedy!

“I'm not sick!”

Milo cried out pulling the covers back under his head to cry some more.

Rolando and Ash were both extremely confused, so they turned to Ethan and began to ask questions.

Ash was the first to interrogate Ethan, since well, he was wrapped in the other man's arms, resting on his head and trying to drift off into a slumber. 

“What were you two doing?”

Yet Ethan did not answer until Rolando picked up a pair of pink laced underwear off the ground and lifted them up away from his face. 

Putting the pieces together in his head, Rolando let out a hollering laugh, “And why is there a pair of panties just casually on the floor? What were you two doing, Ethan? Go on, tell us!”

Ethan gasped once he saw the underwear. His face flustered yet he tried his best to play it straight by responding in a plain, straightforward manner, “Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

The two said in unison as Ethan's face got pinker and pinker by the second. He couldn't just hide the fact he and Milo had been making out, moreso, they were about to, well…

Fiddling with Ash's hair, Ethan ignored their questions, even pretending to be oblivious.

“So, were the two of you doing the ole’ devil's tango or not? You can't hide it when the evidence is literally in my hands, little man.”

Rolando threw the underwear at Ethan causing it to land on the very top of one of his spikes making Ethan pout and turn his head away.

“G-gross, Ethan!” Ash recoiled in disgust at finding his friend doing such nasty things, “At least have some decency to keep it private!”

Ethan lifted his head up once he heard Ash call him gross and to keep what he did in the bedroom private. 

He let out a sigh and grumbled, “I did! Until you two showed up!”

Rolando tilted his head before the covers grabbed his attention again. He began to peek at his friend underneath, snickering a bit

“Wait, Is that why Milo is under the covers? Milo, are you naked?”

“...No…”

Breaking the awkwardness in the room, Ash spoke up, “Maybe we should head to the gym now, Rolando, this is getting a bit…”

“Awkward? I know.”

Rolando got up, stretched his back and dusted his hands, he looked over to Ash and then over to Ethan letting out a light snicker before walking over and pinching Ethan's cheeks, teasing him and calling him a “wittle baby” much to Ethan's annoyance.

“Ash put me down!”

Ethan begged to which Ash responded by ignoring Ethan's tantrums and squirming to play with his hair while also removing those scandalous laced panties, how promiscuous!

“You guys are annoying!”

Rolando raised an eyebrow at being called annoying, by Ethan nonetheless. He pinched Ethan's cheek again and in a cute high-pitch voice, doted over him.

“Aww! Is the wittle baby getting all fussy? Maybe it's time we head out, what do you say, Ash?”

Snickering to himself over how Rolando was teasing and coddling Ethan, Ash regained his posture and nodded.

“Mm-hm! I also have some training to do after we leave the gym, maybe you two can help me out?”

Gasping in unison, Rolando's eyes sparkled up with delight whereas Ethan shivered up inside. While Rolando could handle anything Ash threw at him using, Ethan could not. Sure, he was a bit beefy, and a tad bit strong but he feared them both! After all, they were taller, muscular and stronger than him!

And what didn't help was how they acted when their emotions ran high in a fight!

In Ethan's terrified brown eyes, Rolando was the stubborn and aggressive one when it came to fighting, quick on his feet but extremely dangerous when enraged, often finding anything he could get his hands on as a weapon and if he couldn't find any to use, he’d use his fist instead, opting to aim at his opponent wherever he could until he saw the ground turned red and if his opponent fought back or ran away this would push him harder! To be fair, he was practically raised as a sorta killing machine, even at the age 10 he knew how to perfectly use a gun, aiming right where it hurt!

Whereas Ash was, what Ethan considered, a pacifist, someone would rarely engage in violence and often tried their best to sort things out peacefully. Though there were times where Ash would get really angry and even serious during a battle often using his Ergokinesis, a special and ultra-rare power that he obtained during a…very traumatic childhood event when he was around 5, as a way to defend and protect himself and the ones he cherished. There were also times in which Ash's emotions would run wild allowling his Ergokinesis to get so strong, he'd reach Over-Drive mode!

Ethan couldn't compare.

From Rolando's deadly nature to Ash's dangerous powers, Ethan considered himself useless so to speak and the only person he'd be willing to protect was Milo, his soulmate! He knew, or at least he thought he knew, he didn't have the strength to fight back even when his friends were hurt, or even when he was the one being threatened so he tried to back down when Ash brough up training, knowing he wouldn't even be able throw single punch without hiding and cowering in fear.

While the trio continued their conversation, Milo watched as the sound of their voices began to drown out into the next room. He waved goodbye to the three of them before hearing the apartment door slam shut and got up. 

The effeminate man sighed once his eyes shifted over to the underwear on the floor. Embarrassed, he covered his flustered face with his hands even though no one was in the room with him right now. He picked the pair of panties off the ground and mumbled to himself before throwing them into the hamper and searching diligently in the dresser that he and Ethan shared for a new pair of underwear and his favorite white, clean nightgown.

Seems after all this time, the bathtub was finally calling his name.

Heading to the bathroom with his sleepwear in hand, Milo glanced at his nude body in the mirror. While he had no issues with his appearance and even sometimes flaunted his body off to the one he loved, he still hated the fact he looked exactly like both his rotten parents. He had their bright and big doe eyes and of course their large bodacious hips and thighs, but what he took from his mom was her freckles and even her rosey-pink eye color, he even acted like her at times, sassy and overly euphoric!

And while he didn't have his dad's somewhat buff stature and strong chest with Milo being flat in the front and somewhat skinny or even his dad's beard, in fact that's why he feared growing facial hair, even plucking any hair that should on his chin, he did have most if not all of his dad's soft, sensitive personality.

He was a mixture of both his parents. Both the good and the bad.

He had his mother's anger issues and his father's temper though hid it all under a smile. Milo had taught himself, even from a young age to suppress this particular emotion entirely.

Anger was a negative emotion and letting it take control over your mind was something he feared! Sure, he'd sometimes if rarely would get angry at other people but that anger wasn't really, well, real, it was staged so to speak. He was hiding his true rage behind a veil in fear he'd not only go back to his old ways but also become what he feared the most…

His parents.

Changing his glance away from the bathroom mirror towards the tub he sat his clothes down on the bathroom counter and turned the faucet on, watching the water gracefully flow down into the tub like a waterfall before carefully and cautiously stepping in.

Feeling the warm water and bubbles touch his skin, Milo sat back and pondered for a moment, collecting his thoughts as he scrolled past bad memory after bad memory until it hit him.

“Because you look so miserable…”

Ethan was right. 

Milo was miserable, but not because of his relationship with Ethan, in fact he was extremely happy to be by Ethan's side everyday and everynight, fearing that if he were to die, Ethan would be so upset, more than that he'd definitely spiral into a paranoid depression.

Moreso, Milo was miserable over his past, from his childhood to his teen years and how he had lost a lot, done a lot, said a lot and even hurt himself in the process of it all. The only friends he had as a child were the roaches and rats that he shared company with in his room, even naming them and caring for them, whereas during his teen years he'd form an unbreakable friend group of other troubled teens who turned to the gangster lifestyle as a means of survival.

Those friends he had made during highschool are all gone now.

Milo hadn't heard from them in…decades.

Yet he knew why they hadn't contacted him and it hurt! Because now, with the help of Ethan basically pushing him to be more social, he formed a new friend group, a friend group that reminded him so much of the people he…

Feeling the tears overflow, Milo looked down at his hands covered in water unable to differentiate a single teardrop from bathwater. How long had he been crying? He didn't know.

He didn't care.

If he could drown himself right now he would, but that feeling, the strength to keep on going made his heart pound as the thought that if he did, Ethan would be completely devastated. He needed to keep going, he needed to keep living not only for his love but also for himself.

“If only it was that simple…”

Washing up before drying himself off, Milo slipped into his new pair of underwear and his favorite nightgown, dusting off any dust or grim that dared ruin the glistening pearl-colored gown. Ethan had bought Milo this nightgown as a little present after Milo had bought him that green coat of course, it had practically become a staple in Ethan's very messy and confusing wardrobe.

Making his way back to the bedroom, Milo sat on his side the bed hik and his bear-bear shared and began to look through his messages. A message from Russell here, another message from Estevan there. Seems they were really worried about him, huh? Oh, how thoughtful even though Milo had been distancing himself from them willingly, even during his birthday party he had to keep his distance.

Russell and Estevan were always the first two, besides Ethan of course, to worry and cry over Milo, trying to make him smile and give him hugs whenever they saw him. They knew he needed way more than just Ethan, they knew he needed someone else to be by his side even if it was all platonic.

They knew Milo was lonely in that apartment all by himself.

They had tried to hang out with him before but everytime he would refuse even on his birthday, Estevan was the one to bring up having an after-party that he and Russell had set up at his place yet Milo refused to go.

He just didn't understand! In his mind he was this horribly disgusting person so why did they care about him so much?

Tossing to his side, Milo kept scrolling through his messages. Sure, he had sent Russell some messages yesterday night but those were just pictures of silly cats doing silly things, nothing more, nothing less and with Estevan, he didn't even bother to check, he knew he had more important things to do after all and didn't want to be a nuisance

The last time he had been an accidental nuisance to someone, he got slapped across the face and was shouted at to go back into his.

That was 18 years ago…

Needlessly scrolling through the group chat, a notification stopped him abruptly in his tracks.

It was a message from Ethan! Suddenly all of his misery and sorrow quickly dissipated and disappeared from his body as the butterflies in his stomach flew up while his cheeks turned a dark cherry red. He hid his face with his free hand once he read the message.

A single, “Hello?”

That's what was making him blush so hard? A simple hello?

Typing back, Milp giggled to himself and fiddled with his hair, filling his response with heart emoticons and a cute gif of a bear and bunny hugging one another yet throughout his bubbly response of love and words of worry there were also hints that something was wrong, he was even sad, in fact his body language and facial expressions showed that he was happy to be texting Ethan, he was constantly kicking his feet back and forth, playing with his hair, giggling to himself as his face turned red each time Ethan texted him a picture of himself in the locker room or lifting weights.

Yet his replies felt mixed and turned overly happy to bleak and anxious and then his phone began to ring. 

Milo didn't understand why Ethan was calling him after just having texted him pictures and even a short video of him shirtless, but nonetheless he still answered.

Placing the phone against his ear, Milo spoke up,

“Hey, Ethan…”

~~~

Ethan had been hubbled up in the locker room by himself for at least 10 minutes now and Rolando and Ash were starting to get worried. The two of them had already finished packing up their stuff and cleaning off their equipment, even refilling their water bottles for when it was time to head back outside and train.

“What's taking him so long?”

Rolando grumbled, placing his back against the wall before he shifted his glance over to Ash who looked back at him and shrugged. The two had become so impatient with waiting for Ethah to come out, that Rolando was about to take things into his own hands.

He folded his arms and spoke up in a flustered tone, “Ethan if you don't come out right now, I'm kicking the door down!”

Ash softly shrieked with worry as he put his hands on Rolando's shoulders, holding him back, “D-don't do that, Rolando! What if Ethan's behind that door? He could get hurt, you know!”

Rolando scoffed and rolled his eyes, placing his foot against the bright blue door, “So?”

“S-so? Rolando, that's very mean!”

“And?”

“...Humans confuse me sometimes…”

Turning their attention back to the door, they pressed their ears against the door and heard Ethan's voice change. Before it had been mumbled as if Ethan was trying to whisper and remain quiet as a mouse but now his voice was shaking as if he was worried over something or someone.

“It's okay, just t-t-try to put pressure on y-your wound and I…No! No, don't do that!”

Ash gasped as he turned over to Rolando who simply shrugged. They had become even more confused than before and were starting to feel a bit uneasy.

With the few words they could hear, they immediately backed away from the door once they heard the benches scoot across the locker room floors and footsteps. Trying to keep cool, Rolando hid his worriedness behind a cool and collected smirk whereas Ash simply looked down at the floor fiddling with his hair and tugging on his T-shirt. They watched as Ethan opened the door, duffel bag and cellphone in hand with an uncomfortable expression on his face. He turned to Rolando and huffed, tugging on the strap of his duffel bag while tears started to slowly form in his eyes.

“Rolando, take me home! Please!”

Ethan choked up, before turning to Ash and plopping himself into the elf's arms for an unexpected hug.

Not knowing what to say, Ash glanced up at Rolando for guidance and help only to be met with an unsure look and a quick nod. Without saying a single word to one another the trio headed back to Rolando's car and climbed inside.

Something had happened back at the apartment and while Ethan kept his lips shut preferring to cry and sob in Ash's arms as they sat huddled next to each other, Rolando wanted to know what was up. He was the first to question Ethan on if something had happened to Milo given how hard he had been crying, but due to his emotions getting the better of him, Ethan couldn't answer.

“Ethan, it's okay! You can tell us, we're your friends!”

Ash patted Ethan's back, giving him a comforting smile but still Ethan refused to talk to him.

Rolando spoke up to break the silence between the two in the backseat and adjusted his rearview mirror so he could see them better from afar.

“Um, Ash, you do know, Ethan can be a bit secretive when it comes to Milo, right?

Lost, Ash raised an eyebrow and shook his head. He looked down at Ethan who was still crying but also he was now mumbling and whispering to himself.

“N-no,” Ash stuttered, confused yet somewhat not surprised, “What do you mean by secretive?”

Rolando bit his lip. He wanted to focus on the road ahead of him but he also wanted to keep an eye out on his friends.

“Well, I don't really know how to explain it but Ethan's very…overprotective.”

Ash titled his head, “But isn't that how all couples are? Overprotective? Milo is Ethan's Yarhaan, after all!”

He was curious about what his friend meant and tried his best to equate it to the lifestyle of Otacaia. Even using the Otacaian word for soulmate, Yarhaan.

“I guess.”

Rolando paused, shifting his attention back to the road until they finally stopped at the ragged and broken red apartment building that looked as if it could just fall apart one day with everyone still stuck inside. It was a mess but hey, gotta live somewhere right?

When Ash's comforting and care had worked to its fullest, Ethan's emotions subsided. He sat up and tried to go back to the happy-go-lucky man he was earlier but for some reason he just couldn't! For the first time in years, he felt guilt, shame even. 

He didn't even stop to say goodbye once he got out of the car, leaving the door wide open, ignoring his friends as he left them behind to only tell them to not follow him inside and to let him handle this by himself.

This was a situation involving him and Milo.

No one else!

Dashing up the stairs, Ethan searched for his keys and jammed them into the door knob, twisting and jingling with the keys until he finally managed to get inside the apartment. At first nothing seemed off. 

The living room, dining room, and kitchen were still the way he had left it. The television too! In fact it was still turned on! Even their bedroom had stayed unchanged.

Everything remained the same but that all changed once he roamed the apartment even further.

“Milo, where are you?”

Ethan called out before the smell of fresh blood hit his nose causing him to gag, he had been accustomed to that smell before yet he still didn't have a strong enough stomach to handle it. Sure, he wasn't afraid of blood like his boyfriend but the smell made him lightheaded.

As it became stronger and stronger, Ethan stopped in his tracks, threw his duffel bag, along with his phone across the room and wiped his tears away with his wrist. 

Once he had approached the bathroom, his eyes widened. 

His glance turned to the specks of crimson-blood seeping and dripping onto the tiled floor. In a panic, Ethan screamed out Milo's name to get his attention only to startle Milo who quickly turned his head. 

He was standing there shaking and stumbling a bit right in front of the bathroom mirror applying pressure on an open self-inflicted wound with a pink rag firmly placed on his arm while an open pack of scattered bandages, dirty crimson-colored alcohol pads, pain meds, several bloodied razors, the half-empty bottle of rosé wine that Ethan had bought from the store sometime ago, and a stress ball shaped like a panda stood still on the counter.

Due to the blood loss, he definitely looked out of it as if he could just pass out at any moment but also he was scared, terrified that Ethan had seen him in his weakest, most troubling moment. The glass of wine and pain meds didn't help his case either.

“Sweet Jesus, come here!”

Grabbing onto Milo's unaffected arm, Ethan sat him down on the tub and started searching in the medicine cabinet for casting tape, grabbing it along with the opened box alcohol pads and sat down with his love. He began hastily patching up Milo's wound to stop him from losing any more blood, as he could see Milo's face and skin were becoming gray and his eyes were starting to lose their color and become hazy, even with his still on his ill-ridden face glasses on.

“I feel fucking gross!”

Milo drunkenly muttered out, his words slurred.

Ethan looked up at him with a concerned look and gave him an uneasy look that he tried to pass off as a sad assuring smile. He had never ever heard Milo swear before? Whatever happened to replacing swear words with something more child friendly?

“Don't say that! Accidents happen, ya know.”

With an offended expression, Milo scrunched up his nose and glared up at Ethan. He spoke in a very sassy yet flustered tone as if he wanted Ethan to just go away!

“You know this wasn't an accident! Stop acting so stupid!”

“I-I know but…”

Ethan paused, his cheeks and ears turned bright red to indicate that he was clearly heavily insulted that Milo, his own boyfriend, would call him stupid!

“Wait, hold on a minute, what do you mean by that? Am I stupid for not letting you die?”

With a sarcastic tonal shift in his voice, Milo laughed, letting out a few hiccups as he did so. 

“Wowie, you really don't fucking get it, do you?”

Milo was drunk and if that bottle of wine that was on the counter told him anything, it's that Milo had been straight up chugging it all down to ease whatever pain he was going through and with the sudden switch from paranoid to pissed to now passive-aggressive it made Ethan clam up a bit while he tried to keep himself cool and level-headed.

Ignoring his boyfriend's rude drunken comments, Ethan continued to patch up Milo's wound before he was met with a choker to the eye.

Surprised, Ethan jolted up, stopped what he had been doing, and covered his injured eye with his hand, “Ow! What the hell, Milo?”

Pointing at his neck, Milo got up and chuckled. Bruises upon bruises, open sores, healed wounds, cuts and slits stitched up where exposed to the sweat and heat of the choker itself had claimed Milo's neck and ruined it beyond repair. From the old cuts to the new, Milo scratched and scratched at his neck, slightly digging into his own skin presumably to make some twisted point.

In a daze, he ignored Ethan's pain and asked in a deadpan manner, “You see these wounds?”

Ethan shifted his eyes away from the endless bruising on Milo's neck and quickly nodded but in an effort to calm Milo down, Ethan was about to hold his hand and pull him close but was soon ignored.

“Do you know how long I've been doing this?”

Ethan shook his head as he allowed Milo to drunkenly and recklessly ramble and swear about whatever nonsense was spewing up in his brain at this moment. He was hurting way more than Ethan had suspected and as a kind, caring boyfriend, Ethan wanted so desperately to help him, but he was just uncomfortable now. 

But still he listened. 

Even if everything Milo was saying didn't make any sense to him.

“I started doing this when I was 5. A dumb, fucking child with no one to love him turing his neck into sliced ham!”

Milo then paused and shook his head, agreeing with himself in delirium, “I like ham. Ham is good.”

“Well, how about we head to our room and you can lie down, get some rest and tomorrow I will pick us up some sandwiches and…”

“Why would I want to do that? It's not like you ever listen to me!”

Ethan's ears and race turned red again yet he still remained in the cool zone, constantly reminding himself that Milo was not only drunk but he was at his most vulnerable.

“Listen to you? Milo, I'm literally just standing here listening to you ramble about…I don't even know anymore! You're clearly very drunk and need help!”

Silence filled the messy bathroom before Milo filled the quiet void with laughter. He grabbed the panda-shaped stress ball and started squeezing it, repeatedly nodding his head as he turned away from his love, as if he was agreeing with the little voice inside his mind.

“Yeah, no shit!”

He then quickly turned back around and threw the stress ball at Ethan before trying to run off but as quickly as he tried, Ethan blocked him and since he was bigger and taller, Milo stood no chance.

With tears forming in his eyes, Ethan kept the tiniest bit of cool he had left now and spoke with fierce, “We're not leaving until you sober up a bit and I'm not going to let you hurt yourself again! I wasn't here to help you so let me help you now!”

“You help me? Wow. Wow! Ethan, we both know,” Milo formed his hand into a gun and pressed his index finger against his forehead before pulling the pretend trigger, “POW! I'm better off lying in the dirt!”

Now Ethan was sobbing once again. He knew what Milo was implying and it scared him into tears. He didn't want to lose the only person that made him feel loved, the only person that didn't hurt him, the only person who cared! 

Un his emotional outburst, Ethan shouted as loud as he could, “Don't say that! Don't say that!”

Milo simply glared down at him, annoyed, enraged and tired. He lifted Ethan chin up with his index finger and chuckled softly as if he was trying to switch back into his old self, or at least the self that Ethan knew and cherished so dearly.

“But it's true. Face it Ethan. You know I'm going to die soon, maybe even quicker than you think.”

“Milo, please-”

Putting his index finger upon his lover's lips, Milo smiled and shushed him.

“Be quiet, okay? Be quiet.”

Before Ethan could say anything else he looked down to see Milo had become so dizzy and hazed he had directly, if accidentally, fallen into Ethan's arms, continuing to mumble nonsense before asking the question that had been on his mind all day.

“Why do you love me?”

Collecting his thoughts through teary-eyed lenses and a pounding headache of stress, Ethan began to simply stroke and fiddle with Milo's fluffy hair. This entire thing had all seemed so…familiar yet he couldn't pinpoint why he felt as if it did. It was as if they were both 19 year old highschool seniors on graduation day, arguing and fighting in their school's bathroom before ending it all in a break up.

Except it didn't end with a break-up.

Looking down at the other man, Ethan chuckled, a small warry yet lost smile painted his pale face and asked, in a puzzled tone, “What do you mean?”

Milo clenched his hands tightly onto Ethan's shirt for protection and comfort.

“You know what I mean, don't play dumb.”

“I'm not. You know, I love you.”

“But why?”

Milo bit his lip and paused. He looked up at Ethan with sad, rosy pink eyes that begged for an answer, “Why do you love me, Ethan?”

Love is a very strong emotion, Ethan knew that that's what Milo needed but he also needed help and the love they shared for one another wasn't just going to magically fix all his problems in a day. If it was that simple, they wouldn't even be in the bathroom right now, they would be in bed, cuddled up against each other whispering sweet nothings and thinking about how much they care for each other.

Unsure how to answer, Ethan simply didn't…

~~~

So glad I'm done with this one!! GAAAAAAHHHHH!!! IT TOOK SOOOOO LONG!!!

Alsk sorry @jafanadis if I wrote Ash and Russell out of character. And sorry to @mrboogerlip if I wrote Rolando and Estevan out of character {I know you two are probably tired of hearing me apologize but I feel like I need too because I'm probably butchering your ocs :3} Oh and sorry if I got Ash's and Rolando's backstories wrong I'm a bit stupid ngl.

[darrens-toyhouse]

Oh, Mr. Policeman!

Estevan Aguliar, Morgan Grantz and the town/city, East Armeira belong to @mrboogerlip

This is just a little fanfic/gift fic on how Estevan and Milo met! Nothing more!

~~~

"Now that that's done, I can head back home!"

Wiping his tears away, the young man got off the ground, dusted off the dirt and gravel of his skirt before turning around and heading back to his shithole apartment. It's been weeks since he last been outside in the summer heat so he was feeling a bit sweaty and dizzy, maybe he should've picked a better time to see his friends, or maybe he shouldn't have gone outside at all?

No. No! He needed to get out this time! Get some air and feel the sweet summer light on his skin, even if the light did hurt his eyes a bit after being cooped up inside for so long.

As the young man adjusted his glasses and walked downtown and back into the quiet city, he sighed as he walked passed a couple of teens smoking cigarettes and drinking what seemed to alcohol straight from several unlabeled bottles. They were all wearing baggy pants and lose shirts with the exception of one, a young girl, who wore a tank top and low-rise jeans, she even wore hoop earrings that matched her white shirt.

He shifted his eyes towards the group to get a better look at them and chuckled to himself.

It made him feel nostalgic...

Sometimes he wished he could just go back to being a teenager, a little gangsta hooligan with no future ahead of him in sight, sitting outside a disheveled, rundown, abandoned, house covered in graffiti and trash, drinking that good ole' blue freeze with his buddies while the most irritating rap blasted in the background.

Glance after glance as he walked, the teens continued to laugh, joke, cuss up a storm and cough up their lungs before washing all that tar with straight warm booze. No one could stop them now, they probably thought.

No one expect the police...

As soon as he heard those sirens blare and the red and blue lights blind his eyes, the man steady hid behind the small claustrophobic alleyway between two neighboring apartment homes, hiding his hands behind his back as if he were a kid again, hiding a stolen can of spray paint after spraying someone's car or worse a baggy of drugs.

Peeking out from behind the corner, the man adjusted his glasses and gasped silently as he watched the teens laughter fade ruther and ruther and be replaced with sighs of worry, annoyance and anger as the police car drover closer and closer before finally, parking right next to them!

One teen hurriedly got up, fist clenched and ready but was immediately pulled back by another as the officer stepped out.

He was wearing the typical bright blue uniform barley hidden behind a dark blue vest which matched his hat and pants, there was also a belt tied straight to his waist in which he carried a gun and taser, and a gold badge strapped to the right side of his chest.

The man pondered about the outfit as it was very VERY unusual for AcersVille police who often wore a dark black shirt and black vest, driving around in their white and black cars, a gun mostly already in out of their belts and a little walkie talkie in their upper vest pockets to be wearing something so...off? Maybe the times have changed?

It wasn't until he looked a little bit more closer at the cop car itself. It was blue, a deep dark blue that on the right side of the car read in big bold letters, EAST ARMEIRA PD.

The man gulped, "East Armeira?"

East Armeira, the large yet bustling city where everyone truly lived happily, and even if some had their own dark past or secrets to hid, it still didn't stop them from enjoying life in their own city unlike the people of AcersVille.

Yet it was still a shocking surprise that someone from a city so bright and full of hope would even come down here. Not to mention, the fact AcersVille often closed itself off constantly from outside cities, such as blocking the only entrance in the springtime.

Some of the teens gave the officer a stern look of pure rage while some showed faces of guilt, others showed shame. They knew that each and everyone of them all had a history with the law at such young ages and couldn't afford to go back to jail, after all those bottles of alcohol were not cheap.

The police officer shifted his eyes down at the multiple cigarette buds on the ground and then towards the bottles of alcohol, and shook his head in disbelief.

He had been told way back at his time at East Armeira Police Academy about on how troubled AcersVille teens were and how the police there were struggling to keep things under control but to see it for himself now, it truly was ridiculous! He didn't understand why the East Armeira police department was so ready to head into AcersVille and help parole it, even if it was for a very small amount of time, but now he knew why they were also so hesitant to deal with it's citizens in the first place.

It was almost like they knew the happy-cheerful smiley face façade was just that...a façade!

"What are you little rascals doing out here in the blistering heat, huh? I see you guys got some cigarettes on you."

He turned his attention back to the booze, "A couple of drinks too? Wow! You kiddos have homework right? Why not instead do that instead of being on the streets? It's more safe!"

He gave the teens a warm smile, assuring them he wasn't going to arrest nor hurt them. They were just some juveniles, AcersVille juveniles, but juveniles for sure. All they needed was someone to swerve them on the right path!

"Homework? You think WE got homework!?!"

One of the teens spat on the police officer's shoe, it was the girl! She held up her fist and started going off!

Even though, she was smaller then her male friends, she seemed to have a very smart mouth, a nasty attitude and heavy anger issues on top of being drunk out of her mind and as she stumbled, her hoop earrings swayed side to side each time, her friends desperately trying to hold her back.

"Why don't you fuck off! We ain't do shit!"

One of the boys put a hand on the girl's shoulder, trying to comfort her by saying her name and when that didn't work, he spoke up in a clear tone.

"Come on, let's just back head to the park."

Yet the girl still flat-out refused to listen!

She began to cuss even louder at the officer about how she didn't do anything even though they were technically drinking, smoking and causing a ruckus. And when the officer asked them were did the booze and cigarettes even come from and if they stole it, that's when the teens all got defensive, leading to a knife being pulled out.

The man hiding from behind the corner knew where this was going and quickly ran over to the police officer and declared that it him, who purchased their stolen drugs before then looking back at the confused teens and then back at the officer, hands slightly up as he faked a guilty look.

"It was me, officer."

His voice softened slightly. He shifted his eyes to the now cowering teens and reassured to them that everything was going to be okay, if they complied, before swiveling back to officer, his face even more guilty then before.

"I-I was the one who bought them the cigarettes and booze."

The officer raised an eyebrow, a look of confusion painted his face as he turned his view back to the teens who nodded hesitatingly.

"I see. Well guess you little rascals are off the hook."

The officer then pulled out a pair of cold sliver cuffs and cleared his throat. He hand cuffed the other adult and sighed.

"As for you, madame, you're coming with me."

The officer escorted the young man, or who he perceived to be a young women, into the back of his car before he turned back to the group of trouble making teens and gave them a disappointed glare. He knew that at the end of the day they were just teenagers but something else told him, they would never change their ways.

As he closed the back passenger door and made his way over to the driver seat, he looked down at the other adult and frowned.

"You didn't have to lie for them you know, miss. They're just some hooligans."

He looked up at the teens who were now spray painting the building they had been sitting in front of and rolled his eyes. As someone who had grown up to follow all of his mother's rules and work extremely hard to get were he was, it practically disgusted him. Such troublesome behavior that could never be fixed.

"Before you know it, they'll all be dead by tomorrow anyway."

The other adult simply chuckled in response and looked up at the officer with a look of pure emptiness and replied in a soft, yet dead toned voice,

"Then let today be their tomorrow."

×××

Past BlueBird Rode and down MaryLane, the two finally made it to the broken down apartment complex that was completely covered in trash, littering not only one balcony but multiple. There was even an old roach infested, bloodstained mattress sitting outside which let off a strong musty stench in the heat.

The police officer covered his noise as he parked his car in front of the apartment and got out in a hurry.

While he did not want to judge, he just had to blurt out,

"You live here, miss?"

To which the other man nodded, "Better than the rode we just past. I would never go back to living down BlueBird Rode again! To many prostitutes at night down there and to think people still raise their kids to grow up in this city."

The only thing the officer could say to such as response was a simple, nervously confused, "Oh?"

The young man let out a cute, soft giggle at the officer's wariness, "Hey, how about I offer you some tea? You look a little scared, Mr. Policeman!"

"D-do I?"

"Mm-hm! My treat! Now come on!"

Before the officer could say anything else, he was immediately pulled by the arm and lead up a couple of stairs, each hallway they past smelled like smoke, cigarette buds and dust littered the black carpeted floors and the mold in the corners had started to blend with the carpet. Each door they had past was either busted slightly open, scratched up with chalk from the kids who lived here or in the case of one, blown up with bullet holes.

The only door that didn't look tattered up or had mold and cigarette buds everywhere, was the only one with a slightly faded but readable number, apartment 208!

The police officer watched the other unlock the door and swing it open, causing a loud THUMP to be heard, followed by the sound of shattered glass as a picture had suddenly fallen off the wall.

While the apartment looked to be squeaky clean there was still some things that looked off.

There were slight cracks in the wall, dirty dishes piled up in the sink, small bits of crumbs and paper accumulated in some corners of the living room, and the dinning room, which was cramped right next to the living room couch was dusty beyond belief and looked like it hadn't been touched in years.

"Sorry if it's a bit dusty and dirty, I wasn't really expecting a visitor."

The other man snickered and pulled over a chair, "Please by all means take a seat, Mr. Policeman! I'll be right back, okay?"

The officer did as he was told and sat down, taking off his hat and fanning himself with it. Was this really was the hottest summer yet? Or maybe he was just uncomfortable? He never knew the city was this bad after all! Sure, rowdy, rebellious teens was one thing but this? This was a living nightmare!

As soon as he finished his tea, he would leave and head back home immediately and report back to his boss, the chief of police, Morgan Grantz! AcersVille was clearly NOT the city that needed to be protected by outsiders!

The officer gulped and turned his attention back to the cracks in the wall and adjusted his collar.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, miss, how long have you lived here? This places looks a bit-"

"Shabby? Yeah, I know. The last people that lived here left it a hot mess, hence the cracks. I've been trying to find another place to say but there really isn't a safe place to go."

When the man came back, he was holding a small tray that had two cups of tea diligently placed on top of it. He carefully sat the tray down on the table, and sat across from the officer.

He picked up his cup of tea by the handle and frowned, "Everywhere's the same..."

The officer shifted his eyes to the single cup om the tray and picked it up, taking a small sip. He was curious so he finally popped out the question that was truly on his mind, "Can't you just leave?"

The other man in the room got quiet.

"Leave?"

A long, awkward pause.

"No. I can't just leave. I was born here."

The officer shrugged and sat his cup down, "So? I was born in East Armeira, but that doesn't mean I have to stay, even if it is my home."

"Y-you wouldn't get it..."

"Get what? That this city is a extremely disheveled? Unsafe even?"

The man bit his lip and fiddled with the rim of his cup, "It's complicated..."

Another long awkward pause.

The young man adjusted his glasses and looked up at the officer, now curious.

"What's East Armeira like anyway, Mr. Policeman?"

"I don't really know how to explain it that well, miss. It's a very nice place, nicer than here anyway. Everyone gets along, everyone knows everybody, it's perfect!"

The man raised an eyebrow, he had never heard someone describe a city as perfect before.

"Really?"

"Sorta. Crime exist but its mostly petty theft. Nothing really too serious, ya know."

When the police off took another sip, the other man's eyes started to sparkle with curiosity! He began to question the officer about everything he knew about East Armeira. Like what were the people or if they had a mall? Did they also have a nightly carnival like they did over here? The possible amount of questions was endless!

And each time the officer would answer, giving out what he knew from a personal perspective of growing up in such a wonderful town! And each time he did, the man's eyes got even more filled with curiosity and he began to ask even more questions.

"Oh I see! Maybe one day I can come and visit you, Mr. Policeman!"

The officer let out a light chuckle followed by a warm smile as he sat his empty cup down on the tray, got up and put his hat back on.

"Oh please, call me, Estevan! Estevan Aguliar!"

"Estevan? That's a very funny name!"

"Oh? Then what's your name, miss?"

The nam hesitated at first even backing away in the process. He swore he would never give his name out to anyone else ever again, especially not a police officer but since Estevan seemed very very kind and extremely sweet, he broke his vow.

He cleared his throat and let out a hushed sigh.

"...Milo Campbell. Milo J-Josiah Campbell. Though you can just call me Milo..."

The officer blinked then let out a mean snicker, "You look a lot more like a Lily or a Charlotte, miss."

Milo was about to say something but kept his mouth shut once Estevan checked his watch and shook his head. He gave Milo another warm smile and started to head back home.

"Guess I have to go, Ms. Campbell! Thanks for the tea by the way, it was delicious!"

Milo smiled back, "Oh, no problem! Feel free to stop by anytime, Mr. Policeman!"

Estevan let out a light laugh as he headed out the door and back to his car, only to see it completely vandalize with gang graffiti. An annoyed sigh escaped his lips as he rolled his eyes abd walked over to the driver's seat and scooted his way inside.

The last thing he saw was Milo. Standing by the window, waving goodbye.

~~~

Sorry @mrboogerlip if Estevan is written out of character I tried my hardest to say in character but I always end up picturing him as a serious yet stern guy with a sensitive soft side XD

And sorry if I got East Armeira wrong too! I have no idea what the town or city is suppose to be like but I imagine it's a big city/town with lots of people who are very very sweet and are easy to get along with but the town itself also has some very dark stuff like the whole Correa Family!

[darrens-toyhouse]

Envious Green and Cold Blue.

Estevan Aguliar and Rolando Correa belong to @mrboogerlip

A sorta continuation from my last fanfic, Pretty in Pink, Rad in Red!

This time we're focusing on Estevan and Ethan!! {Or the big booba bois as I like to call them tee~hee}

~~~

When they had left the apartment, there was nothing but a drift of awkward silence between as they got in the car and took off into the daytime. They both just wanted to go back home and cuddle up with their lover but instead they were forced to hang out with each other.

Estevan was a perfect and flawless stern, cold cop who protected everyone around him under the guise of the law and made sure everyone followed the rules. He was quick to dismantle any criminals and throw them behind bars, solve the worst cases imaginable under the guise of justice and would often have to sleep at night knowing what he was doing for a living could cost him his life. And even though his mother had other plans, it was Estevan's destiny to be a hero to all!

To all, expect...

The person that was riding in the backseat, looking out the car window in complete and utter boredom, that was Ethan.

Why did it have to be Ethan? Why not someone else? Ethan was just some weirdo gym-rat who was so out control, that Estevan had to buy a toddler-leash and a couple of oranges just to keep Ethan down, otherwise he'd run off, make a fool of himself while trying to be cool, only to end up embarrassing the both of them.

In Estevan's eyes, Ethan was just...

"An embarrassment!"

Ethan tiled his head to the side. A confused look sprung upon his face as he huddled himself in his jacket. Shoes and socks off, while his t-shirt remained a baggy mess of hot sauce and crumbs. They had just drove out of the drive-thru from some random fast food place across town and were now heading back on the road ahead of them.

Or at least that what Estevan had planned out.

Instead, Ethan just had to get hot sauce all over the seat and guess who had to stop the car and clean it all up?

Estevan Aguliar! That's who!

"Hey! Why did you stop?"

Ethan asked in a annoyed and confused tone. He scooted back and tossed his jacket aside while he watched Estevan get out of the driver's seat, head to the back and tap on the window.

"Open the door!"

Estevan shouted demandingly to which Ethan just rolled his eyes at him causing Estevan to get red with fury.

In a mocking tone, Ethan laughed, "You know I can't get out right? You have the childproof lock on, silly billy!"

As Estevan's face turned redder and redder, Ethan proceeded to ramble on and on about how for someone so perfect and intelligent, Estevan was 'kinda stupid' for not realizing that he had the childproof lock on, in the first place!

Once Ethan had finished talking trash however, Estevan swung the car door in a full force before yacking Ethan right out of his seat belt and picking him up, bridal style while looking down at him with a death glare, Estevan's crimson bloodred eyes piercing through Ethan's soul.

"You are so dead after this."

Ethan shivered and shock in Estevan's arms, and questioned the other man, hesitantly, "After...what...?"

Yet before Ethan could get a sold answer, he was immediately dropped onto the hard ground beneath him, hitting his back.

"After you clean up your mess. Here."

And just like that, a box of tissue soon hit Ethan's face.

"What the-?"

Ethan questioned as he looked down at the blue and orange box, and then up at Estevan in a dazed.

"Why...Why do you have a box of tissue in your car?"

Estevan looked down at Ethan with a smirk, before walking away, not saying a single word as he waited by the front of the car, leaning his back against the door and watched as Ethan got up and started to wipe away the mess he had made.

Wiping away the hot sauce and sweeping the crumbs outside with a balled up piece of tissue, Ethan groaned.

"Are you at least going to help me?"

Estevan shook his head as he pulled out his phone and started to text his adorable Ro~Ro!

"I'm sorta busy right now, Ethan."

"Doing what?"

Now a slight blushing mess, Estevan giggled and twirled his hair. Turing his face away from Ethan as he looked down at his phone in delight.

"Texting my Rolando!"

"Texting your boyfriend? How is that being busy?"

"Oh please, you'd use the same excuse if it was Milo on the phone."

Estevan the paused and scoffed, judging Ethan by looking up and down at him as if he was exmaining him, "I seriously don't understand what he sees in you."

Ethan batted his eyes and turned away, his face turning a flushed pink, "I make him laugh."

Estevan then turned back to his phone. He muttered under his breath, "I still don't get it." As Ethan started to creep up behind him with a wide suspicious smile.

"Are you jealous of me, Estevan?"

Estevan immediately jumped back, covered his phone with his chest and with a bright, rosy face, shouted out, "No!"

"I have my Ro~Ro! Why I would be jealous of you anyway!?! I just think you don't deserve Milo!"

Ethan blinked, then snickered which soon transformed into laughter.

"Don't deserve Milo? Just say you're jealous, dude! I get it, not everyone can be me!

Heading back to the back seat to finish cleaning up his mess, Ethan smirked, "And that's okay, because I'm way too special!"

Estevan snapped back with a scowl on his face, "I'm not jealous!"

And he was telling the truth!

He wasn't jealous of Ethan and Milo's relationship. Infact he just thought Milo didn't deserve to be with someone like Ethan! Someone who held his boyfriend back instead of pushing him forward! Someone who made his boyfriend dependent on him! Someone who just wanted praise!

That wasn't love!

And Estevan knew that!

Yet that's how he viewed Ethan. A narcissistic person who cared about no one but himself. Ethan was an embarrassment, a failure. Someone who needed to be praised for doing nothing!

Ethan scoffed, "Whatever you say, Estevan. First you make me clean your car, and then you say I don't deserve my precious bunny~boo. What's next, you're going to lecture me for wasting all your-"

"Ethan, you're using too much tissue! Look at the mess you're making!"

Snatching the box out of Ethan's hand, Estevan then started to clean off the rest of Ethan's mess. Before finally throwing the box back to Ethan, who yawned.

"Knew it! You're so predictable!"

Climbing back into the back-seat, Ethan plopped down, pulled his jacket overtop of himself and snuggled.

Estevan made his way back to the driver's, not before throwing in a quick little reply to Ethan's comment in Estevan being so...predictable.

"And you're a waste of precious air! Put your socks and shoes back on too!"

He headed back into the driver's seat, strapped himself in and started the gas, before turing his head back to Ethan, who was now playing video games on his phone.

"You know, I already heard that one before, Estevan. You're such a predictable person."

Predictable?

Predictable!

Estevan wasn't predictable! He was perfect and perfect people were not predictable!

Biting his tongue, Estevan turned his focus back to driving, allowing the road to just take him somewhere calm, somewhere where he could take a breather, collect his thoughts and just relax but as he drifted off into a daydream, a voice called out to him.

"Estevan! I'm bored!"

The whiny voice shouted, begging for Estevan's attention but was quickly turned away by silence.

But as it shout and complained, Estevan turned back. He couldn't escape Ethan's voice, or the way he talked back and annoyed Estevan to a degree it made him tick!

"Ethan," Estevan began, his voice static, clearly he wanted to shout back again but he just couldn't anymore.

Not only did he use up all his shouting earlier from when Ethan was having a temper tantrum over chicken nuggets, but his voice was also becoming strained.

"I am driving. So be a good...decent passenger and please, hush."

With a smile on his face, Estevan finally made it to his third pitstop at a gas station.

Hopping out of the car, Estevan looked back at Ethan and knocked on the car window.

Rolling down the window, Ethan popped his head out and grinned pointing at the gas station, clearly he wanted something.

Estevan groaned as he opened the small gas tank and checked his wallet for anymore cash he had left, "Wait, until I fill up the car, then I'll grab us something to snack on."

"And then?"

"Well, what else do you want to do? Go shopping?"

Ethan nodded, pointing to the rode ahead, "The mall is up ahead! There's this new Code:Star game that just came out and I really REALLY need it!"

Estevan raised a eyebrow, thinking to himself, what the hell was Code:Star? Sure, he had heard Ethan ramble on and on and on about this game but he didn't really understand or get it.

Filling the car up with gas, Estevan turned to Ethan and raised a quick eyebrow before asking,

"Code:Star? What is it about anyway?"

Ethan scooted away and bit his lips adjusting his shirt collar as he let out a weak and nervous, "Um, I don't really know."

"You don't know?"

"I do! Though I only focus on...a certain cop in the game..."

Estevan began to grow even more puzzled. He let out a snicker and shook his head, "Focus? What do you mean by focus?"

"N-not like that! I'm not..."

Ethan paused, his cheeks turning a flushed pink as he began to ramble.

"I'm not deeply in l-l-love with the main character to the point were I...I dream about him carrying me in his big beefy arms and then th-throwing me onto a bed and doing things to me! If that's w-what you think, weirdo!"

Letting out a small sneeze, Ethan cheeks turned back to normal until Estevan egged on the idea of dating or maybe even banging, a hot cop.

"I mean, imagine it."

Ethan immediately gagged at the thought, "Imagine it? No way! Buff guys like you aren't my thing."

"But you just said-"

"Plus you're pretty ugly anyway."

Estevan stopped what he was doing and just stared at Ethan with a dumbfounded look on his face before pointing to Ethan's stupid spiky hair.

"Ugly? Me? Look at your hair!"

Ethan quickly snapped back, "Well, look at your hair! It's all spiky and...spiky!"

"As if your hair isn't too?"

"Well, at least my hair is cool and awesome and doesn't have a weird...springy thing poking out! You look dumb!"

Ethan pointed to the long, noticeable strained of hair that stuck out at the top of Estevan's head. Slightly offended, Estevan scoffed as he remembered how others used to tell him that that strained of hair made him look like a clueless idiot and for Ethan to say he look dumb, it stung a tiny bit.

To which Estevan followed back on Ethan's words and poked at Ethan's own hair. Particularly the two "fins" that were styled on the side of his hair and made him look ever so silly.

"Whatever you say, shark fins."

Ethan then slumped back in his seat and folded his arms, giving Estevan a pout. Seeming holding back a pinch of tears, he whispering under his, "Sharks are cool...and you're not!"

As he overheard what Ethan had said, Estevan's ears sprung up, but still he just brushed it off.

Once the car had been filled up, Estevan cautiously took the pump out and placed it back where it belonged before closing the tank and heading to the mini market, leaving Ethan behind.

He hadn't even ask Ethan what he wanted? He just left him there?

But that's okay! Estevan must've forgot! After all, Ethan was used to being left behind.

Especially by someone like Estevan.

"You're just like him. You're so perfect and smart..."

A pit grew in Ethan's stomach as he clutched it in pain. He covered his mouth thinking he was going to vomit but instead it was nothing more than a false alarm! He took a couple of deep and steady breaths and settled himself down by counting to ten in his head, just like how his boyfriend taught him whenever he was having a panic attack and once his mind and body had relaxed he pulled out a pair of red reading glasses and placed them on his face. He ooked up at the car ceiling and let out a smile reassuring smile before switching back to his usual, cheerful self.

Ethan then jumped up and adjusted the rearview mirror so he could get a look at himself and chuckled softy. Admiring what seemed to be his face in the mirror, even picking at his hair and sticking out his touge like he was an obnoxious frat boy before replying to himself in a more straightforward and clear tone of voice.

"You are incredibly idiotic."

Before taking the glasses back off and hiding them back into the pocket of his jacket.

~~~

While Estevan had promised to take Ethan to the mall, he still thought it was best to make a couple more pit stops, especially now that Ethan was fast asleep and as someone who needed to be prepared and check and recheck everything around him with no distractions in his way, he found it the perfect time to do so. Constantly he would go back and forth from one gas station to the next, making sure he had everything in order and that the car was filled and ready. He'd even get out at times to check the backseat and make sure it was clean.

He knew he had to be ready! Hard work, preparation and more must be done as soon as possible! Even on a road trip like he would not make any mistakes!

Mistakes were just distractions...

And distractions were flaws!

Slouching back in his seat, Estevan rubbed the bag under his eyes and yawned. Seemed after all that preparing and planning ahead of time, he was starting to get extremely tired. On top of that, the afternoon sky was starting to fade into gray.

He turned his attention away from the road and glanced back at Ethan who was still fast asleep, snoring as loud as he could, drool covering his cheek and jacket as he mumbled incoherently in his sleep.

"I know", Estevan sighed sleepily, "I know I promised you that game, Ethan."

Estevan glanced back at the road and swiveled himself around, hands firmly on the wheel as he took a sharp left instead of a right, which would've lead them straight to the mall.

Instead he was heading back right to Ethan's apartment.

Or so he though at least. Every house and every apartment in AcersVille looked exactly the same. Ragged, decrepit, trying desperately to hold itself together with bricks and concrete. Graffiti and gang symbols endlessly spray painted on whatever building you could find, be it a tiny house with lots of junk outside of it, or an entire complex.

The only thing that stood out, besides the washed-out colors horribly painted on each building, slowly chipping away, was the graveyard that sat right by a pond and in the middle of the graveyard was a lonely yet lovely willow tree.

Besides the graveyard were some train tracks yet it seemed to have been closed off years ago. How strange? Who would place a train right next to a grave? And on top of that there were also a tone of houses as you drove farther and farther away from the pond itself.

"BlueBird Road?"

Confused, Estevan shook his head. He dropped another glance at Ethan who had now just woken up, tiredly looking around before his eyes landed on Estevan.

"Estevan, why are we-"

Ethan cut himself off as his heart sank into his chest as if he had seen something he wasn't suppose to and now he was terrified.

Estevan rudded his eyes and adjusted the rearview mirror. Why was it even croaked in this first? He continued driving forward hoping he could get of this side of town and straight to the apartment.

"I know I did say I was going to take us to the mall but-"

"You promised."

"W-what?"

Estevan hesitated a bit as he paused and stopped the car, parking it next to a random corner of the sidewalk which was also occupied a neighboring tree and a random jump rope.

"Ethan, Listen I'm sorry, but I'm just really tired."

Letting out a long, droning yawn, Estevan unbuckled his seatbelt and turned himself around.

"I'll try to get us back to your place before Rolando and Milo get back though as a way to make it up to you! I promise!"

"You...promise?"

"Yeah, I promise!"

Estevan gave the other man a nod and then a small yet friendly smile to show Ethan that he meant what he said. And to Ethan, Estevan really didn't seem like the type of guy to lie, but still he had his doubts and eedles to say he was also a bit confused. If Estevan had promised to take him to the mall why would he break that promise and then make a new one entirely?

Sure, Ethan was an airhead and maybe a bit of a "class clown", but he wasn't stuipd! And when it came to promises, they were VERY important to him.

As his ears sprung up, Ethan stuttered on his words, "B-But you...? You...?"

Before pausing all together.

He bite his lip and turned to stare out the car window, hands clutched and close to his chest as his body started to tremble nervously. Ethan didn't know which words he wanted to blurt out right now but what he did know is that this all seemed so...familiar.

Trying to quietly and secretly clam himself down, Ethan sat back in his seat and just stared out the window yet as the car continued to drive down BlueBird Road, that's when Ethan, confused and upset bluttered out,

"You promised!"

Causing Estevan to stop the car again, jolting them both back in their seats as Ethan's shouting had startled Estevan completely awake!

"Ethan, what the hell!?!"

Estevan shouted in surprise as he turned around to face the now enraged man who was rustling with his seatbelt trying so eagerly to get out of the car for whatever reason.

"What are you doing!?!"

He questioned as he watched Ethan rip the seatbelt out of it's lock before fiddling with the door handle, trying to get out. Clearly he was anger and maybe a bit paranoid, Estevan could see it on Ethan's face but he didn't even know why until Ethan, again blurted out something that sent Estevan down his own spiral.

"How can I trust you with taking me back home? You didn't even take me to the mall and you promised you would, but you lied to me! Why would you do that!?! I hate you!"

A single tear rolled down Estevan's face as he looked down at Ethan with wide, terrified eyes. His hands were shaking beyond belief and his throat had now become dry. He tried his best tp calm down but it seemed now his whole body was shaking and sweating with fear and that single tear turned into an unstoppable flood.

How could some hate him?

He had tried so hard to be good...no, perfect! So others wouldn't leave him, so others wouldn't mock him, so others wouldn't...hate him!

"You...", Swallowing his spit, Estevan muttered and stuttered between tears, completely chocking up on his own words, "You hate me?"

Had he become the failure in Ethan's eyes or was he just exaggerating again? No. No? Ethan would never say something like that, Estevan thought in his head while Ethan continued to shout at him, mocking him, hating him.

Even though those words, Ethan was spouting were from a past Estevan didn't even know about, they still hurt.

You hurt me!

You're such a failure!

What a liar!

I hate you!

Just leave me alone!

I don't want to see you anymore!

And worse of all,

"I hope you just fucking die so I never have to see your face ever again!"

That's when they heard train pass by.

Ethan covered his mouth and sunk into his seat, panicked and shocked at what he just say. He didn't mean! He really didn't!

So why was Estevan sobbing even harder? Why was he shaking and breathing so heavily? Why was he repeatedly apologizing?

Ethan didn't know.

But what he did know was that the train was gone now.

~~~

When they switched seats after Ethan had determined Estevan couldn't drive in the panic state he was in, they passed each other but only one of them looked down at the other.

Estevan was just too...afraid to even look at Ethan anymore. Even when he sat down in the backseat he didn't even look up at Ethan, he just stared out the floor repeating "I'm sorry" over and over again and when they finally made it to the apartment, Estevan refused to step out he just countined to apologize as if he was in a trance.

He was broken.

Ethan, not knowing what to do, stepped out of the car all by himself and made sure all the doors were locked, even though the backseat was childproofed and Estevan couldn't just run out. He turned towards the apartment, and then peaked a quick glanc at Estevan to make sure he was okay and wasn't...hurting himself.

After all he had never seen Estevan like this before until today at least.

Ethan peaked another glace before whispering under his breath, "I promise I'll make it up to you. I'm sorry."

Before he headed into the building and up that sitars, pnd pulled his keys out of his jacket om e he had made it apartment 401 and as he slowly creaked opened the door, no one was home.

Until he heard snoring, loud, obnoxious snoring to say the least and headed straight for the bedroom only to see Milo...and Rolando?

They were snuggled up together, still in their clothes and overtop the covers completely fast asleep as Rolando caressed Milo's hand, something he often did with Estevan.

Not wanting to wake up Milo, Ethan turned to Rolando and tapped him on the shoulder multiple times until he finally woke up, drool and strings of hair all over his face as he looked around completely disoriented and adjusted his spiky chocker before looking up at Ethan, who look very nervous.

"Oh, hey Ethan!"

Rolando began, allowing a small smile to escape his face as he rubbed his tired purple eyes.

Ethan let out a weak and nervous, hey, followed by a little wave as he cowered in fear. If Rolando knew what Ethan had said to Estevan he'd DEFINITELY go off on him or worse. Whenever it came to Estevan, Rolando was the first to protect and defend his love!

When Rolando stood up, Ethan crowded himself into a small corner by the door, legs shaking. Not only was Rolando more muscular and looked like he could kill, he was also much taller.

"You alright, little man? You look scared."

In replay to this comment, Ethan simply let out a nervous chuckle before handing Rolando the keys to Estevan's car and pushed his friend out of the bedroom before slamming the door shut leaving Rolando to think and ponder if he did something wrong.

He glanced down at the car keys, puzzled as ever before making his way out of the building and when the cold rain water touched his skin, he looked up to see a gloomy gray sky and then looked back down to see...

"E-E-Estevan?"

Rolando stuttered as he rushed to his lover's aid. There, sitting in the backseat, cold, alone and afraid was Estevan Aguliar, rocking back and forth, staring into space with tearful eyes as he sat there still repeating "I'm sorry" to no one.

~~~

OH BOY!!! IT IS DONE!!!

I was dealing with a bit of writer's block when it came to this story as I really didn't know what I wanted to go for until I kept taking breaks and thinking a bit and now it is done!!!

Also sorry @mrboogerlip if Estevan is written completely out of character, I just have this stupid Ethan and Estevan dynamic in my head that I wanted to share so Estevan might be written so out of character in this ._.

[darrens-toyhouse]

Pretty in Pink, Rad in Red!

Estevan Aguliar and Rolando Correa both belong to @mrboogerlip

Another story featuring Estevan and Rolando? Let's goooo!! {I love them both sooo much!!!} However, this is just a story about Rolando and Milo!! Since they are two VERY different people, I decided to write a story about them hanging out!!

I plan on writing one for Estevan and Ethan sooner or later as they are also two very and I mean VERY different people. {Kinda surprised they're even friends to begin with...}

Enjoy! :>

~~~

He was wearing his Saturday best! A green and black jacket, completely unzipped, revealing his favorite baggy green t-shirt that he mostly wore when going to the gym, but decided hey, it was hot outside, so why not. Even if it did show a lot of skin.

As he effortlessly combed through his hair and gelled it out into it's unusual style, footsteps could be heard pitter-pattering towards him. He turned around and saw his boyfriend, his hands covering his eyes as he promised not to peak.

He chuckled softly to himself and walked over to his boyfriend, patting his head and giving them a quick kiss on the cheek.

"You can look now, Milo. I'm done!"

Through a warm, soft and sweet smile, he watched as Milo move his hands away, revealing two teary eyes and a cherry red face, seems he made Milo ever so flustered yet again! Yet he didn't know why he was so teary eyed...

"Bunny~boo, why are you crying?"

Through soft sobs and quivering lips, his boyfriend answered in a meak, childish tone of voice, pressing his hands against his cheeks, something he often did when slightly upset.

"Because you look so beautiful, Ethan!"

He then rushed up to hug his bear~bear tightly, letting out a childish whine as he did so. He truly did love him so much that it made him emotional.

Confused, a nervous smile appeared on Ethan's face.

He shrugged, "I wouldn't say beautiful. I mean I kinda just throw this together and-"

He looked back down at Milo who looked up at him with such sad eyes as if to say 'don't leave and give me all head-pats and cuddles NOW!'

Ethan sighed and gave his boyfriend another warm, soft, sweet smile yet underneath that smile was a touch of sadness. He knew Milo didn't like going outside for some odd reason and preferred to be cooped up in the house, watching tv or reading but sometimes he felt like he was being a bad boyfriend and a bad friend.

A bad boyfriend for enabling Milo's isolationism, which often lead to Milo feeling even more like a burden. Wallowing under the covers, in his own sadness untill Ethan comes back home.

And a bad friend for not letting the boys even see Milo. Last Halloween was especially bad, since it was Milo's birthday and they all wanted to bring gifts, celebrate, have fun. But couldn't, because the birthday boy wasn't even there.

Ethan tried his best to calm Milo down, telling his bunny~boo that he'd just be gone for a few hours and before the clock strikes 11:00, he'd hurry back home to give him all the cuddles, hugs, and kisses he wanted and maybe even a little creamy treat at the end of it!

But Milo simply shook his head and looked down at Ethan's chest, "But I don't want you to go!"

He put his head next Ethan's chest and started smothering himself, shaking his head no repeatedly while also wiping his tears in Ethan's shirt.

"M-Milo! Stop y-you're getting my shirt all wet!"

Ethan stuttered, his cheeks turing a bright pink as he turned his head away in embarrassment. Clearly this was the one option out of everything else that Milo chose to get Ethan to stay and even then it didn't work.

Watching his boyfriend clinging harder and harder onto his chest, Ethan's blush got brighter as he tried to control himself. As someone who was aware yet at the same time unaware of how extremely hypersexual he was, this just got him all turned on! He had to calm himself down before he made it out the door or else it would just make things so awkward!

Through slightly hushed breathing, Ethan spoke up, "M-Milo! C-come on, this is embarrassing! Estevan and Rolando are probably waiting for me right now!"

But Milo refused!

"Nooo, stay!"

As Milo whined and whined, Ethan reached for his phone, sitting on the bathroom sink, and frantically called for help. He knew he would be laughed at but he didn't care, what he did care about was getting Milo off of him.

"Hey!"

Was the first thing Ethan said, covering his mouth a little as to not moan over the phone.

"Oh, hey Ethan! You alright up there?"

Replied Rolando who was sitting in the passenger seat chilling with his boyfriend, Estevan. They were both waiting for him and where wondering why was he taking so long to come outside? Normally, he'd be dressed and out the door by now.

Sweat ran down Ethan's face. He felt his body get hotter and hotter as Milo soon began to claw and clinging onto to chest even tighter than before. He really didn't want Ethan to leave him, it seems.

"I'm s-sorta in a little p-predicament right now, the front door should be o-o-OH~"

Immediately covering his mouth Ethan pulled the phone away before quickly hanging up. He sat his phone in his pant's pocket and tried his best to pull Milo off of him.

"M-Milo please l-l-let go! They're waiting for me outside!"

"Noooo! Don't gooooo!"

Whenever Ethan tried to pull away, Milo pulled back. It was always a struggle to break them apart. A struggle, indeed!

But not for...

"Nooooo! P-put me down!"

As Milo was lifted off the ground by, he looked down at Ethan with a sad, tear eyed face and started to reach for him, crying out to him before a familiar voice spoke up.

"You know, Ethan, we could've just hung out another day if we knew you and Milo were planning on, well, um..."

A nervous chuckle escaped Rolando's lips as he turned his head away, his cheeks turning a soft cherry red with embarrassment.

Ethan quickly shut him down, "We're weren't-"

But immediately stopped! He hide his face with his hands and groaned softly.

Estevan patted Ethan's shoulder before immediately dusting his hands off in disgust

"You're gross, Ethan."

Ethan retaliated, his cheeks turning pinker and pinker as the situation got more and more awkward.

With a slight stutter, he shouted out in an annoyed tone,"Y-you're g-gross, Estevan!"

Offended, Estevan hissed back, "Me? Gross? At least I have the decency to keep it private!"

Rolando's face got redder as he bit his lip, "B-babe you li-literally got caught with your pants down that o-one time...remember?"

And just like that Estevan stopped talking. His face turned a similar bright pink to Ethan's and he turned his head away.

The bathroom had began to grow ever so silent and the awkwardness from early was now completely tainting the air. Everyone was completely red in the face! Everyone...

Except...

"Bear~bear, don't leave me!"

Milo cries grew louder and more whinier as he reached for his bear~bear. He wanted his comfort and love but knew Ethan needed to be elsewhere!

To him, it was like Ethan was truly leaving him alone to die and wallow in this cold apartment where they did everything together! How tragic that his one true love was going to leave him alone! Oh no! How horrible!

Snapping out of all that embarrassment and awkwardness, Rolando finally spoke up again, in a slightly annoyed yet brash tone of voice. He rolled his eyes and put the much much shorter man, down.

"Stop being so dramatic, Milo..."

Milo's lips quivered as he turned to face Rolando and looked up at him with same sad eyes he had given Ethan earlier.

Only this time, those puppy-dog eyes didn't work!

As the cold-hearted, mafia man Rolando was, he was apathetic to Milo's cutesy~wootsy guilt tripping, but still, Milo was his friend.

He then groaned, looked down at Milo and then up at the other two adults in the room. While he knew, Estevan and Ethan didn't see eye-to-eye on...anything for that matter, he knew not only did Ethan need a break, but Milo clearly needed someone else to hang out with.

While he, Estevan and pretty much their whole entire friend group knew Milo refused to go outside for some odd reason, he could somewhat tell it was starting to take a bit of a toll on Milo's...mental health so to speak.

And so with the light bulb in his brain lit up, Rolando came up with an idea!

"Maybe, Milo and I should hang out instead?"

Estevan immediately interjected as if he knew were this was going. He would have to hang out...WITH ETHAN! OH NO!

"R-Rolando? Are...are you sure? Wouldn't it make more sense if Milo and I hung out instead? I mean it WAS your idea to pick Ethan up and take him out for ice cream and what-not!"

"Oh, I'm sure! Don't worry babe."

Rolando then paused, and with a smirk, flipped his hair and winked.

"Me and Milo, we'll be just fine, love!"

This just made Estevan blush even harder than before! The bad boy esque aura Rolando was setting off right now, it was just too much!

Estevan turned his head away and pouted slightly, while tugging onto his jacket, "If-If you s-say so, my love..."

And as the bathroom turned silent once again, Milo stepped forward to speak up but was immediately carried away by Rolando. Accepting his fate, Milo gave up completely. There was no use whining and crying now because like every introvert, every once in a while, he would have to come face to face with the outside world.

×××

By the time, Estevan and Ethan had head out on their own little adventure, Rolando was stuck in the living room, flipping through channel after channel on the tv, while he waited for Milo to get dressed.

Getting up off the couch, Rolando sat the remote back down on the little coffee table and stretched, "Are you done yet, Milo? I feel like I'm going to start turning into bone by the time you-"

When Rolando turned around, he was shocked, not even shocked, surprised! It was almost like Milo had completely transformed into someone else! Sure, it was still Milo, no doubt about it. After all, no one had bigger thighs then him but it was like his whole demeanor had changed!

From annoying clingy crybaby to pretty in pink with a hint of sass!

Standing in a very mean girl eques manner, Milo batted his eyes and flipped his hair? Wig? I guess you could say both! Before doing a little girly pose, lifting up his skirt a bit so Rolando could see more!

"How do I look?"

Milo batted his eyes again. He really had to go all out, huh? Pink eyeshadow to match the pink crop top and skirt, he even painted his nails pink! On top of that he even wore pink high-heels!Everything he wore was so pink that it sorta hurt Rolando's eyes a bit, red would've totally been much better!

Rolando cleared his throat and answered with a straight face, "Like a girl."

Milo's eyes glistened, as he pulled onto his pigtails and asked in a cutesy~wootsy, innocent voice, "Am I a pretty girl?"

A quick pause.

Rolando hid his blush away by shifting his eyes elsewhere because truth be told, Milo did look absolutely pretty and..

N-not hot! That was for Ethan to think about!

But to Rolando, he looked so pretty, it was almost mesmerizing!

And yet he still said, "...No."

"N-no? B-b-but-"

Feeling his lips start to quiver and eyes start to water, Milo gulped up his sadness and shook it away once Rolando said this!

"No...You're not a pretty girl, Milo. You're ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE DUDE!"

Milo eyes sparkled and glittered with delight, he had never been called adorable but another person, besides Ethan of course, so this just made him blush a tiny bit with surpise!

"Adorable?"

Rolando gave Milo a quick wink and thumbs up.

"Yeah, litte dude!"

He then ruffled Milo hair's to which, as if a switch had immediately activated, Milo started to spin on his tippy toes with happiness!

As Milo continued to spin, Rolando stood back as he watched Milo then spun his way out of the opened apartment door.

Startled and scared that little dude-I mean Milo would get hurt, Rolando quickly rushed out of the door and down the stairs, shouting out,

"M-Milo!?! Be careful!"

But you couldn't stop Milo from spinning, once he started it was impossible to stop him!

"YAY!"

"M-Milo, come back!"

As his friend ran and ran to save him from getting hurt, everything went black for Milo. The while world had turned into this empty void of nothingness and when he awoke, he was sitting to Rolando a cold, cold ice pack sitting on his right now badly bruised eye. And his knees were way more bandage up then usually.

Feeling the the cold, cold ice pack hit his eye, Milo immediately jolted back once again.

Rolando scooted closer and pressed the ice pack back on Milo's eye before giving him a weak and nervous smile in return.

"Well, at least you didn't die?"

Milo crossed his arms and pouted, "Aw man..."

Before the ice pack hit his eye once again. He let out a small hiss and covered his bruised black eye with his hands.

"Sorry."

"Oh, you don't have to apologize, Rolando. It just hurts. Really badly..."

"Milo, of course it's going to hurt! You SPUN into traffic, little dude!"

Rolando then put Milo's hand over the ice pack so he could hold it himself and pulled out his wallet.

"You know, you gotta more careful, okay? Because If you did die, I don't what..."

A slow pause, Rolando looked down at Milo holding the ice pack against his eye, clutching his skirt tightly. He could tell Milo was trying really hard not to cry.

Rolando shifted his eyes to the hospital window, looking down at the ground below and in a quiet voice, finished his sentence, "I don't know what I would do..."

As his demeanor soon changed from strangely sorrowful to slightly worried, Rolando got up and looked through his wallet for some cash.

"Do you want anything from the vending machine while I'm over there, Milo?"

Milo's head sprung up. Curious as ever, he leaped off his chair, eyes sparkling and glittering just like before.

"Do they have choccy bars!?! They BETTER have choccy bars!"

Rolando blinked, "What?"

"Choccy bars!"

"You mean chocolate bars, right?"

A cute cat-like smile appeared on Milo's face as he nodded, "Mm-hm! Choccy bars!"

Rolando rolled his eyes. Of course Milo had to give everything a cutesy~wootsy nickname.

"I'll check, okay? Stay right here and don't move."

Rolando patted Milo's head and walked over to vending machine, pulling out a crispy clean and green 5 dollar bill and putting it into the slot yet as he waited and waited for the chocolate bar to fall, two little arms wrapped their way around Rolando's waist, pulling his back and making him jump with fright.

"GAK! M-Milo!?! What are y-you doing!?!"

Milo relaxed his head against Rolando's waist, I'm bored so hug."

Rolando blushed slightly with embarrassment and shock. He pointed to the chair that Milo had been sitting in and told him in a stern stutter to go sit down to which Milo immediately shook his head, no.

Rolando let out a harsh and annoyed groan in response, "Go sit down or I'm not buying you anything!"

And like a bratty child, Milo stomped his foot and shook his head once again.

"No! I'm bored!"

"Well, go text your bear~bear or whatever!"

"No! YOU wanted to hang out with ME so now you must suffer! Mwaha ha ha ha-CHOCCY!"

Seeing the chocolate bar in Rolando's hand, Milo reached for it, standing on his tippy toes as Rolando was way taller than him and pleaded, begged even!

He wanted-NO! NEEDED that chocolate bar as soon as possible!

"Choccy bar!"

Milo cried as Rolando teased him, waving the chocolate bar around as Milo then started to hop for the bar, trying his best to reach it.

"Give it!"

"Nope. I told you to stay put therefore this 'choccy bar' is mine now."

Milo watched in horror as Rolando unwrapped the chocolate bar before taking a huge bite out of it.

"Why would you-"

Milo's lips started to quiver, he pressed his hands against his now red cheeks trying his best to hold back his tears as he sniffled lighlty.

"Why would you do that, Rolando? That's mean!"

"Milo, you're so dramatic. It's just a chocolate bar. Pretty good too! Here."

Easily and swiftly snapping the chocolate bar in half, Rolando handed Milo a piece just so he didn't have to hear Milo's childish whines and sobs anymore.

As the two checked out of hospital, Rolando looked down at his watch.

"6:40 already? Man, time's going by so fast."

Well, you know, what they say, time goes by fast when you're having fun!"

Rolando then turned to face Milo and ruffled his hair to Milo's absolute delight.

"How about we get some ice cream? A little treat after you almost died...?"

A pint of laughter escaped both of their lips as Milo nodded in responses before skipping off, Rolando following right behind.

Walking or in Milo's case, happily skipping down the barren streets, Rolando soon came to a quick and steady stop. Cars speedily zoomed past him as the the green traffic light blinded his eyes, making it somewhat impossible to see. He looked to his left and then to his right only to see that Milo had disappeared once again and as he looked up at the road ahead of him, his jaw dropped.

Milo was just casually walking in the middle of the road like it was nothing!

Rolando screamed out in a panic Milo's name which altered the other man to turn around and give him a toothy grin as if he was absolutely oblivious to his surroundings.

As he hurriedly ran towards Milo, a white pickup truck blared it's horn before coming to a quick stop, causing a traffic jam in the middle of the rode.

"Milo, oh my god!"

Was the first thing Rolando shouted out as he ran towards Milo, who was playful sitting on the road playing with some worms he had found until he was then completely scooped up into Rolando's big beefy arms.

Rolando let out a sigh of relief as he examined Milo's body.

"Oh thank goodness, no scratches, no scars, no bruises!"

Shaking beyond belief, Rolando put Milo down before quickly steadily claiming himself down as he tried to hold his temper. He knew if he shouted that would just make Milo cry and he didn't want to see him cry.

In a straightforward yet secretly stressful demeanor, Rolando asked in a dreaded voice, "Milo, what did I JUST tell you five mintues ago?"

Milo simply shrugged, "I don't know."

"You...you don't know?"

Letting out a stressful sigh was the only thing Rolando could do. He was this close to scolding Milo but he knew he had to hold it together.

He grabbed Milo's hand and ran off with him, completely out of danger and as they ran and ran in a secluded and abandoned part of town, Rolando knew this would probably be the last time he would hang out with Milo again.

Once everything had cooled down and Rolando fully calmed down, they began to walk or in Milo's case skip and hop down the empty and cold desolate streets. Yet it seemed these streets were also very sketchy, to say the least.

Trash littered the ground, and colorful neon graffiti was spray painted on every building, which where falling apart at the seams.

To keep his friend safe, Rolando held Milo's hand as he knew the other man could not fathom how bad this area could truly be due to how innocent and naive he was. He probably thought the crude and gross graffiti were just really pretty cute pictures!

And that's why he needed to be protected.

To Rolando and everyone else in there friend group, Milo really did act like a child.

In their eyes, he was this small, innocent, pure yet overly-sensitive crybaby.

He clinged onto anyone who showed him kindness and when they were gone, he would cry out for them, because in his eyes, they were truly leaving him alone.

He got himself into unexpected danger and had to pulled away by those who cared about him and didn't want to see him get hurt. And when he was consoled and comforted, it made him confuse.

He didn't understand why other people had to leave him behind sometimes.

He didn't understand that he could also getting seriously hurt or worse.

It was eerie.

Too eerie.

How could someone be this naive to such a degree that it was borderline scary?

Letting go of Rolando's hand, Milo turned around to face his fellow friend, a wide toothy grin plastering his face as he hopped up and down excitedly just like a bunny.

"That was sooo fun! Can we do that again, Rolando?"

Rolando paused and stopped dead on his tracks. He gave Milo a borderline angered look yet he knew he still had to bite his tongue.

In a serious and enraged tone, Rolando let out a quick and direct, "No."

He then held Milo's hand again as they continued to walk down the trashed streets of nowhere.

Milo pouted, threw his arm to the side, and stomped his foot, "You're no fun!"

He stopped, let go of Rolando's grasp, and crossed his arms like a bratty child.

"Meanie!"

Meanie?

Was he being serious right now?

Rolando saved him twice and he didn't even say thank you, not even once!

Hell, his OWN life was probably in danger now because of what Milo had done! As a young man who was born into the mafia and was apart of a well-known mafia family, he had targets on his back, way to many to count!

No one understood that.

Not Estevan!

Not Ethan!

And definitely not Milo!

Feeling the rage slowly take over, Rolando clutched his fist and bit his lip. He turned around to face Milo and looked down at him.

"I'm mean? For saving you, again?"

"I guess. You're soo boring, anyway!"

"Boring? Again, for not letting you play in traffic? For not letting you die?"

Rolando paused. He was getting more and more frustrated by the second. He tilted his head and blinked. He couldn't bite his tongue any longer.

"Are you fucking serious!?! I saved you, twice! I probably have someone watching me now, waiting to strike because of you! Milo, this isn't a game!"

"Oh?"

Milo thought for a moment but Rolando quickly shut him down before he could say anything else.

"Why am I trying to make YOU understand? You wouldn't get it anyway, you're just so, so...naive!"

"Naive?"

"Yes! You're like a kid, it's embarrassing!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are! This whole time we're been hanging out together you've been acting like nothing but a child! It's like you just don't...don't..."

Childlike laughter rang in Rolando's ears as he looked up at Milo who was laughing all of a sudden? Why was he laughing? Did he find this whole thing funny?

Or was this his own sick and twisted way of mocking Rolando for caring about him?

No?

No!

No...?

Milo wasn't that kind of person. Rolando knew that! Milo would never mock anyone in that way! He was just acting like an innocent child who just got scolded and found it funny to be told never to do that again.

Because, like a child, he didn't understand that people cared about him nor did he understand the consequences of his actions.

Right?

"Why are you laughing, Milo?"

Through slowly forming tears, Milo tilted his head as a smile crept it's way on his face as if forcing his demeanor to change on a wim.

He twirled around Rolando before replying in a fake joyous tone, "You're so silly, Rolando! Can we go get some ice cream now? I can hear the vanilla and rainbow sprinkles calling me!"

Rolando rolled his eyes. He grabbed Milo's hand and told him firmly and straightforward,

"Just hold my hand okay, and don't let go this time! And if you see a road please don't spin or twirl or hop, matter of fact just let me do the walking, okay?"

Milo nodded affirmatively, "Yes, sir!"

And as Milo allowed Rolando to lead the way, he looked back down at the road they had just walked passed, the one he had skipped through and just stared at it before slowly shifting his eyes over to the graffiti, then to the trash that littered the ground beneath their feet, and then back to the graffiti.

It made his stomach churn just seeing gang signs and crude art from long ago.

The city never changed.

And neither did he...

×××

"Unicorn sprinkles?"

The two said in unison when Milo pointed at the small poster inside the ice cream parlor. He ran up to Rolando, stood on his tippy toes and tugged on his shirt, begging for unicorn sprinkles.

Rolando chuckled nervously as he awkwardly handed Milo his cup of vanilla ice cream with...rainbow sprinkles.

"It's already to later for that, little dude."

"B-b-b-b-but the tiny unicorns..."

Milo's lips immediately started to quiver like always, he sniffled then mumbled as he looked down at the vanilla ice cream in his hand and as soon as the tears started to show up, Rolando patted his head.

"Don't worry, Milo. I promise to get you unicorn sprinkles instead, okay?"

"...You promise?"

Rolando pulled Milo into a tight hug, getting a smidge of ice cream on his shirt. Not only was this hug a way of comforting his little dude, but it was also his way of saying 'I'm sorry', after he had yelled at him.

He knew, or at least he thought he knew Milo's reason for being so quiet on their long walk here after their talk was because he hurt him so the hug was something Milo definitely needed right now.

"Of course I do! Why wouldn't I promise you that?"

A cute and soft giggle escaped Milo's lips. He then grabbed Rolando by the hand so they could sit outside and enjoy the stress free moment.

Just the two of them eating ice cream and sitting on a nice cold bench outside, enjoy the warm weather as they planned on what to do next.

"Well, we go back to my place and watch Lottie and Donnie? It's my favorite show! I have a dvd pack of all 5 seasons including the 3 seasons spinoff!"

Milo's eyes sparkled with delight as he rambled on and on about some show Rolando hadn't even heard of!

Rolando let out a nervous and confused chuckle, "Oh, guess I haven't heard of that one!"

"Eh? Really?"

A frowned appeared on Milo's face. He tugged on his pigtails and sighed sadly, his eyes shifting elsewhere.

"Guess you also never hear! of Don't Drop your Juice either."

"Nope! Is that another show?"

Milo shook his head as he tugged his wig slightly off and pulled out something from under it.

It was a bright yellow dvd case!

And with a small smile, Milo handed the case over to Rolando.

On the front cover were two young men, their backs turned away from one another and in between them was the title itself, Don't Drop Your Juice In Da Hood.

The noticeably bigger and beefier man on the left was dressed head-to-toe in all black. From the open yet tangled up black business suit to the black dress pants and shoes, you would've thought he had just came home from a funeral the way he was dressed, and the disgusted, almost apathetic look he was giving the man on the right didn't help his case either.

On top of already giving off a very threatening aura, he also bore a scar on the right side of his face. A scar so visible, it was the first thing that Rolando's eyes locked onto and made him wonder immediately, how did he get such a hideous scar?

As opposed to his fellow friend or perhaps foe on the right, who had no such scaring on his face whatsoever, he also wore extremely bright and colorful clothing, a bright red jersey that clashed completely with not only his dirty and messed white shoes, but also his pair of black baggy pants too!

Rolando could also tell by the shorter and stubby man's facial expression, the tongue sticking out as he gave the other man a wide taunting smile, that he was, indeed, the comedic relife of the two.

But at least the two men on the front cover had one thing in common...

They were both holding a single, lonely gun in their hands.

The man of the left held his gun far away from his body, back slight hunched downwards as if he was getting ready to shoot the man on the right. Yet not only that, blood also covered tip of the man on the left's gun as if to indicate he had already shot someone before while the man on the right held his gun underneath his chin, as if to tease the other by doing it himself.

Rolando shuttered a bit.

It felt famailar.

Too familiar.

He turned his attention back to Milo and handed the dvd case back to him and shrugged slighlty.

"It looks cool, I guess."

"Really? I've been hiding the dvd in my wig just incase you wanted to watch it with me! I'd feel like you'd..."

Milo paused and fiddled with his fingers, eyes shifting towards the dvd cover itself, "You'd probably like it, you know."

Noticing Milo's glasses were sliding off, Rolando pushed them back into place, giving him an unsure look.

"I don't know, it doesn't really look like my cup of tea. I'm not really into, um, what kind of movie is it actually?"

"A dark comedy!"

"A dark comedy?"

Milo nodded, "Mm-hm! Well kinda, I don't really want to spoil anythin-"

"Does it at least have some action in it?"

For a moment, Milo shrugged.

A bit confused about Rolando's question, he tugged the dvd back into his wig and picked his ice cream cup off the bench, scooping up a spoonful of sprinkles and vanilla.

"I mean, yeah. It is a movie about the h-

"Then it's a deal!"

"You didn't even let me finish!"

Rolando chuckled lightly and patted the Milo's head until he looked over at his watch, 7:12 already? He looked at Milo and then back at his watch, he wanted to spend more time with his little dude, but it seemed time wasn't on his side today. Bummer...

"Hey, Milo, how about we head back to your place now, it's 7:12 and I figure Estevan and Ethan are probably waiting for us anyway."

Milo frowned, and as always, his lips stared to quiver, tears started to fill up his eye as his ice cream cup shook slightly in his hands. He didn't want Rolando to go! They haven't even get to watch their movie and he was leaving him behind, just like that!

As Milo begged him to stay, Rolando put his hands on Milo's cheeks and stuttered through tears. Seems Milo's crybaby-ness was getting to him too.

"Milo, d-don't cry! I'll be back, I-I-I promise!"

Milo sniffed. He looked up at Rolando with sad, little eyes and asked in a meak and usure tone, "Y-you promise?"

Rolando nodded instantly and sniffed, "J-just like I promised that I'd get y-you some unicorn s-s-sprinkles, little dude!"

He pulled his little dude into another tight hug and sobbed softly into his arms.

Milo, in return simply put his head on Rolando chest and whined out, "W-why are you c-c-crying, Rolando?"

"B-because y-you're crying!"

"I'm sorry!"

Rolando looked down at Milo who was completely buried in his chest and chuckled lightly.

He ruffed his hair lightly and through soft, meak sobs replied back in a calm yet stuttery voice,

"S-Sorry? For w-what?"

A slight pause as Milo lifted his head slightly up, his tears forming a little puddle on Rolando's red shirt. He swallowed his spit and muttered,

"For everything!"

Not knowing what to say, Rolando pulled Milo closer into his chest, and lightly rocked him in his arms as if he were a baby.

Their little journey was about end and neither of them wanted to leave the other just yet. They were having so much fun, talking, getting into accidents, eating ice cream.

And now just like...poof!

Rolando knew this would probably be the last time they'd hang out together anyway. Milo would, without a doubt, go back to his ways of hiding in his room, locking himself away, and never coming out ever again.

Rolando watched Milo curl himself into a sleeping position. He sighed despairingly and whispered to himself,

"You're suppose to be the cute one, Milo. Leave the reckless behavior to me, okay?"

×××

Carrying a sleeping Milo in his arms, bridal style, Rolando chuckled to himself and shook his head.

"I thought you'd be heavier, given all that junk you got in your trunk, Milo."

He then sighed worryingly and shifted his eyes to the shops and stores around him. Their lights completely dimmed, the streets devoid of other people. It was strange, but it wasn't surprising. Ethan had told him and Estevan about walking around the city at night

He'd show them shortcuts on how to get back to the apartment and to never ever cross down any sketchy lanes, which was impossible to say the least. Every street looked sketchy and grime!

One of the shortcuts, a shortcut Rolando was walking through right now, was a small area that had a lot of thistles and bushes, several trees that blocked off the sun with their leaves, and a surprisingly small amount of houses, but just like everything else, it was ruined by decay, trash, and graffiti.

Several shoes were tossed up on power lines that hanged above them, swaying in the wind. Some of shoes however were becoming more and more visible as Rolando finally approached the makeshift sidewalk memorial, Ethan had told them about when describing the shortcuts he had take to get home when it was dark out.

The memorial itself however, clearly had seen better days.

He turned his glance away from the memorial once he suddenly felt Milo tear up a bit and squirm around in his arms.

In a hushed voice, Rolando whispered, "Hey, I'm right here. It's okay, you're almost home, Milo.

He then bite his lips and looked down at his watch, "Ethan's probably worried sick! It's 8:09 now and it's starting to get darker. Maybe we should've went with the taxi instead."

Passed more thistles, bushes and trees, Rolando finally made it to the apartment complex, with Milo still tucked away in his arms.

He rubbed his eyes with his free hand and left out a soft yawn as he removed the pink keychain, that Milo had trusted him with, around his neck and opened the front door, making it all the way to apartment 404 and opened the door.

As he flicked on the lights and shouted out hello, he realized Ethan and Estevan had not made it back yet.

"That's...strange? Guess we ended up here first huh, Milo?"

Rolando looked down at Milk with a small smile. His little dude was fast asleep, cuddled and curdled up against him. Nothing could wake him up now.

As he approached the bedroom and carefully laid Milo's sleeping body down on the bed, he tucked him in as neatly as he could and laid across from him.

With one last soft yawn and a warm smile to top it all off, Rolando caressed Milo's small and cold hand as he slept beside him, never letting it go.

And the last thing he said before drifting off to sleep right beside his fellow friend was simply,

"Goodnight, little dude."

~~~

FINALLY! IT IS DONE!

Also again sorry if Estevan and especially Rolando are completely written out of character, @mrboogerlip I tried.