#plugley

It was nearly two years now that they’d escaped the torture of the machine. Every now and then one of them would feel the ghosting of wires digging into skin like barbs, and the other would bring him back to reality with flurries of gentle kisses. The wounds still felt so fresh, like it had just happened the day before.

Rickley had expressed to Plug that he wanted to move as far away from the ocean as possible, and naturally, Plug agreed without much hesitation. Rick wasn’t too keen on going to a salty seascape any time soon. The only ocean he wanted to get lost in was the hazy green blue of Rickley’s foamy eyes.

Merging back into real life needed some getting used to. Rickley struggled with memory loss and often forgot the moments they’d shared together within the machine and outside of it. Rick was always patient with him, never allowing himself to get upset. He’d begun to control his feelings a bit more, and made sure to tell Rickley how he felt instead of hiding it inside. Something Rickley had taught him from those harrowing months locked away.

They began saving up for Rickley’s top surgery. It was something that he had wanted for a really long time but never had a chance to even think about saving to money. Plug always gave a few dollars from his paycheck and Rickley gave whatever he could from the small odd jobs he did online. Their savings started to build and the goal was in sight, and Rickley’s happiness increased greatly with that knowledge. Plug always made sure to let him know he’d still feel the same whether he’d get the surgery or not, though they both knew Rickley needed it to feel like himself. And it was okay.

Their bad habits had toned down considerably, no longer needing to numb the pain of the past because they had each other. Though they enjoyed a good high every once in awhile, and got drunk more than twice a week. It was kind of a tradition on their part.

Rickley passed the blunt to Rick and lazily leaned against him, head spinning from the high. This was their third blunt though, to be fair. Rick’s arm was slung around his partner’s thin shoulders, fingers curled gently into bare skin.

“I l-love you.” It had become easier for Rick to say. He was no longer afraid of hurting Rickley. They knew each other too well to be afraid of that. Rick blew out the smoke with a sigh and handed the blunt back to Rickley, who easily finished it off with a few more puffs. He kicked it out on the sandy desert ground and looked over to Rick.

“I love y-y-you too,” Rickley wrapped his arms around Rick’s bare torso and breathed in deeply, a smile gracing his face. So familiar. So good.

Rick returned the affections with evenly placed kisses on his fluffy blue hair, fingers pressing against the small of his back as he carefully laid them onto the soft blanket beneath them. Dusk settled over the desert and the stars began to twinkle in the sky. Rickley shivered and Plug pulled him up closer to press soft /smecks/ to his lips, cheeks, and neck. He cared for him like nothing else.

Words weren’t needed as they fell into each other like puzzle pieces, soft breaths and shared kisses filling the night air as they laid against each other in the haze of a warm high.

Rickley would have loved to continue but shivers overtook him. The cold seeped between their bodies and he gave Rick a chattering smile, disentangling their limbs and nodding back to their house. It was warmer in there.

Plug snorted out a laugh as if to say, ‘you didn’t care about the cold the other night’, but obliged anyway, picking up the crippled man and carrying him tenderly back inside.

“Rick?”

“Y-yeah?”

“A hundred years?”

“Yeah, Rickley, a hundred years.”