Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Whatado fellas, I am here to PROUDLY announce that we have survived the summer rush of the carnival and have decided to organise a staff get together to celebrate!” A tall, dark, lanky man stood in front of his employers. His long dreads swayed side to side, adored with Neon green and purple details, while walking to the large scrap of cardboard he was drawing on “since we are still in…. crippling debt to Mr Garou…. I can’t take you folk anywhere fancy, so instead have decided to organise a dinner party of sorts! I will be making my famous Gumbo!” 

“Kremy, Question?” a short man with scruffy blonde hair raised his hand. Dressed in clothes that were clearly falling apart, but still complimented his natural beauty. “Can I bring Hootise?”

“Gricko you always bring Hootise, even if I said no, you would bring her. She doesn’t even pay attention! She just sits on her iPad all day!” Kremy waved his hand in the air, clearly frustrated by the stupid question. He watched as the short man went to yell back before turning to a young girl with fluffy brown hair, who was sitting next him who was playing on her iPad. She looked up to look at Kremy, giving him a big smile to show that she was excited for the dinner.

“I, uh, have a question.” A monotone voice spoke, Kremy looked beside Gricko to see the next person to put his hand up. A tall pale man with orange, white and black fluffy hair, almost resembling cat ears. Dressed in a green hoodie with the sleeves cut off, and baggy green sweatpants. “Should we not just be moving onto the next town to avoid debt collectors?” his cat like eyes stared into Kremy soul, clearly trying to find the logically reason to why they weren’t continuing their usual schedule.

“Counter question Frost,” a gruff voice from behind Kremy came, a much larger buffer tanned man looks down on the crowd. With deep brown hair that looked like flames of a fire, wearing clothes that were clearly dirty from performing maintenance “I wanna get drunk before we hit the road again, and I wanna eat a nice meal. I’m sick of eating carnival leftovers! Plus, Twigs hasn't had Kremy cooking yet!” 

“Technically they aren’t leftovers till they are, left over.”  Frost responded, “You however Gideon, are eating then before they can even hit the stand.”

“What can I say, I like hot nuts!” Gideon respond, causing one of the men in the meeting tent to laugh. A Much, taller, man. Who looked, and smelt, like he slept in the dump behind the back of the festival. Dressed in tattered clothes, and looked like he hadn’t gotten a haircut in an exceptionally long time.

“Torbek has hot nuuuuts.” He said in a drawn-out voice, causing Gricko to turn in shock and cover his daughters’ ears.

“NOT IN FRONT OF HOOTSIE!”

Loud yelling broke out in the group, causing Kremy to sigh deeply and hold his face in his hands. Usually, he would turn to his best friend for moral support, but currently he was busy picking up Gricko and shaking him rapidly. What he needed right now was a cigarette, however he had sent their new employee Twig out to get him a fresh packet for him, before realising 20 minutes later she wouldn't get served them, due to the fact she was a child. Maybe if he were lucky, she would figure out how to steal a packet. So, for now, he was completely out of smokes for the time being.

Twig was the latest addition to the carnival and oversaw the food carts and overpriced drinks. This celebration was also a way to formally invite twig into the main crew of Carnival Lecroux. Making her an official member of the team. While most of his employees were free-lance, the men in front of him were a crucial part of keeping the carnival together, and now the young girl was a member of their tribe.

Frost, with his intelligence, was in charge of finances and accounts, making sure they never overspent or found themselves in more dept. His best friend, Gricko, oversaw the animals and children’s actives. Using it as an excuse to get his mute adoptive daughter involved. 

Torbek was the latest addition to the permanent team, as before, while he was working with the team for a long period of time. After going missing for a couple of months and coming back more dishevelled, the group collectively decided to look after him, much to Frosts protests. Torbek was mainly in charge of the dirty work, such as cleaning up mess the others didn’t want to touch. Kremy had tried to talk him into singing live but the stress of it causes the taller man to pass out.

And then there was Kremy’s second in command, his best friend. Gideon Coal. Gideon oversaw ride management and the games. His experience as an engineer helped him make sure the rides wouldn’t collapse on themselves, but also make sure that the games were always rigged. He also kept Kremy out of danger when he pushed a gamble too far, always being a great bodyguard for him. 

But right now, he was acting the fool with the rest of the team, while Gideon was still complaining, Frost speaking his mind without thinking, Gricko going off on the others while covering his daughters’ ears, and Torbek was trying to break up the fight the best he could.

Kremy took a breath in frustration. Before slamming his cane to the ground.

“Gideon,” he said behind gritted teeth, causing everybody to stop fighting and turn to look at their boss “Could you kindly see me in my office?" 

The rest of the team laughed as Kremy walked away and Gideon followed behind him.

Kremy hung up his purple top hat and suit coat on the coat rack in the door, before taking a seat behind his desk. Putting his hands on his temples to calm his headache. Gideon took a seat on the plush sofa next to it, about to put his feet on the sofa before his boss glared at him, and he quickly put them down again, and taking off his shoes. Ever since Twig had joined that sofa had become his current bed, so he had gotten quite used to it.

“You alright Kremy?” he asked, concerned.

“I don’t know Gid, I’m trying to do something nice for everybody, but it is turning into chaos again.” Kremy responded, still rubbing his temples, before looking up to look at his friends with pleading eyes, with a tinge of frustration in his voice “and the last person I need to get involved in the chaos is you Gid, I need you to at least try to keep everybody under control.”

“Are you really that surprised,” Gideon let out a chuckle, “you’re just as bad and you know it, remember Guys night?” 

“It was ironic.”

“Like our wedding?” Gideon laughed while looking at the darker man, while Kremy glared.

 The group had gotten very intoxicated one evening in which many eventful things happened, including the group becoming drag queens for a night, a lot of unicorns, and frost however sleeping with half of the gang. However, the night ended with Gideon getting married to 3 women and himself in a Vegas wedding, hosted by a very old Elvis’s impersonator. Kremy didn’t know what came over him to insert himself into the wedding, but now himself and his best friend were legally married. The pair didn’t really talk about it since, only joking about it.

Well, apart from that night…

Kremy decided to quickly change the subject.

“Yes Gid, the wedding was iconic, anyway! What if I told you I want to have this event to celebrate Twig joining our crew?” Kremy folding his hands to rest his chin on them, staring the larger man down. Gideon perked up at this information, as he had a soft spot of the girl. 

“Ok ok, I’ll get everybody in line, don’t worry about it. A party for Twigs would be a great idea, she deserves it.” Gideon got up smiling, before looking at Kremy once last time before leaving. Kremy simply raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well chop chop Gid, get the everybody calmed down, then I’ll run through a breakdown of the night.”  Kremy replied, before Gideon shrugged his shoulders and headed back outside. Kremy knew that look, like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t say it. He would have to ask Gideon about that later, but for now he decided to work out a plan of action for the night. 

Kremy walked around the supermarket, basket in hand trying to find the best fish stall for crawfish, wanting to get the best option possible. Twigs following behind him with her own basket filled with fruit. 

“it’s been so long since I got to make decent food Mr Kremy! You always want me to make cheap cakes and cut every conner when it comes to baking. Like using water instead of cream, or reusing food that fell onto the ground, its really disgusting, but I do it because I trust you!” she said with a big smile, her glasses taking up most of her face, and her mushroom beret bopping up and down on her curly hair. 

“Well, that is how we manged to keep profit these months, gotta cut the conners.” 

“I really do not understand why you wanted me to come as well.” Frost said from behind him, throwing a bag of flour into Kremy basket. 

“Well, Gricko and Torbek are currently clearing out the area for the event, and I have Gideon supervising that to make sure they don’t” … Kremy paused, holding a finger to his chin, trying to figure out what to say next. He dragged Frost out here for two reasons. One, being the most logically one of the groups he would be able to make sure himself and Twigs did not get sidetracked, and second, the older man wanted to figure out why his friend, for the better part, had been sulking. Kremy had to think of a way to bring it up naturally.

“Hey Frosty! Why don’t you like Torbek?” Twigs asked point blank, throwing a couple onions into the basket, looking up with him through her thick framed glasses. Well, at least Kremy didn’t have to beat around the bush now. 

Frost just stared at her before blinking, quickly scanning over the onions the smaller woman had thrown in, picking one up to feel in his hands.

“This onion appears to be softer than the others.” He responded, in his monotone voice.

“Don’t change the subject Tsorf!” Twigs blurted out.

“Silence Twigfeild.” Frost raised his voice back.

“Fellas, Fellas!” Kremy got in the middle of the two to break them apart briefly. Twigs sticking her tongue out at the taller man while frost rolled his eyes “You can’t be misbehaving, you hear?”

“Sorry Mr Kremy, but I just want all of my friends to get along…even if its stinky Torbek.” twigs told her boss, pouting. 

Frost took a breath to calm himself, before putting the onion down to pick up a fresher one. “it’s not that I don’t like Torbek, I’m actually quite fascinated by him. I am just annoyed I allowed myself to get knocked out by him when we finally met him again.” Kremy nodded, when the group had met up with Torbek again he wasn’t the same, he was a lot more violent than they had remembered, and the group took it upon themselves to make sure he was able to recover in a safe environment. Gricko took it the hardest, feeling like it was his fault, and that they should have looked for him sooner. However, in the chaos of everything Torbek completely destroyed Twigs current home at the time. which is why she was currently staying with the carnival, and attacked frost so hard he knocked him unconscious. 

However Kremy did have to wonder if frost was more annoyed that Gricko had gotten so close to Torbek, as the pair were best friends (maybe more, Kremy had always suspected something, Gideon had called him crazy for thinking that.) however he knew asking this question would open a can of worms he was not ready for, right now his main objective is getting the ingredients for his gumbo. So far, he had opinions, celery, peppers. He just needed to pick up the meats-

“Speaking of our relationship without our coworkers and friends,” Frost said right next to Kremy’s ear. “What is up with you and Gideon.” Kremy froze. 

“What do you mean?” Kremy said, giving his friend a big smile.

“You seem clingier than usual to him recently, but also pushing him away. Is there trouble in paradise dear Kremy? Ball and chain dragging you down- “

“Shut up frost,” Kremy said, throwing a packet of sausage for him to check. “Everything is- “

“Ah sausage, how Freudian- “he started in his monotone voice before Kremy threw a packet of chicken at him as well, hitting him straight in the face. Kremy went over to snatch the meats off his friend and throw them into the basket. Twig stared up at the pair about to ask something, before she stopped and turned to Kremy, staring him down with her massive eyes. The old man knew what this look meant, she was curious and wanted to know what was happening.

“Mr. Kremy…are you and Gideon fighting?” she looked down into her basket “please don’t make Gideon sad…”

 He decided against giving into her and decided to walk ahead to make sure he avoided any more questions. As he stood in the seasoning section and look at the products he thought about frosts statement. 

He won’t lie, ever since ‘guy’s night’ he found himself a lot clingier to his best friend Gideon. Maybe it was because of the accidently marriage. How he found himself on the alter being the best man to Gideon, who had stumbled into marrying 3 women at once, and when he stood next to him, and saw him in his rented tux, and how proud he was of him for how far he’s come. From all the pain he’s faced, he suddenly got jealous. Gideon was HIS, he was there through Gideons tough times, and these women didn’t even know him! How DARE they take him away from him, his best friend!

Maybe it was the drink, or maybe it was the copious mix of drugs that the group had been taken, but suddenly Kremy thought to himself how he should be the one getting married to Gideon, and when the rev told said that the next person to interrupt him will be getting married, Kremy couldn’t help but take his chance. Legally (at a Vegas casino in themed like a carnival) he was Gideons husband. 

And the pair never had a serious conversation about it. Part of Kremy was afraid to HAVE conversation about it, knowing he would get his heart broken. Falling in love with your best friend was one way to get your heart broken, accidently marrying your best friend was on a whole different level. So anytime it was brought up he quickly brushed it off, trying to avoid it, trying not to repeat passed mistakes.

Passed mistakes like…

“ It would be so rude for you to leave your husband alone on our honeymoon, wouldn't it?” 

It's a good thing nothing happened that night, nothing at all.

Nothing at all. 

“Are you alright Kremy? You’re all red.” he heard a soft voice ask, making him look down to see twig holding a bag filled with shrimp. “Frost wants to know if your done sulking over your husband and ready to pay up.”

Kremy was going to kill frost.

When they got back to their carnival grounds Kremy got to work on setting up the cooking station. Taking off his expensive top hat and jacket and dawning an apron with an alligator in a chef hat. He Quickly tied his dreadlocks into a bun of sorts to make sure they didn’t get dirty or covered in oil from the cooking progress. Twigs got to work chopping up the vegetables after setting up a cooking station, and frost found Gricko and Torbek playing with Hootise. 

“Now make sure when you’re chopping the trinity, you get them all diced up nice and small, got it twigs?” Kremy leaned over her, giving her an apron with a cute mushroom design on it.

“Yes Chef!” she said with a massive smile before getting started.

“where’s Gideon?” Frost asked, walking over to the two men who setting up more fold up chairs and tables, Frost went to were Hootise was to pick her and cradle her.

“Oh, he popped off to get the refreshments!” Gricko explained, “said something about this being the best time to…” Gricko looked over at Hootise who was on her iPad in Frosts arm. “…to get the 5-finger discount.” Frost rolled his eyes at this before.

“Torbek and Gricko manged to get the campground clean allll by themsellllfs.” Torbek stood proudly, before trying to walk forward and tripping over his trench coat. “Ooowwww….”

Kremy watched this go down as he set up his pots for his gumbo “Frost put Hootise down and put the rice on!” he shouted before grabbing the carton of oil. It had been a while since he made a classic gumbo, always so busy with the carnival to enjoy one of his favourite hobbies, cooking. Another reason he wanted to hold this small celebration was because Torbek and Twigs hadn’t tried the Gumbo yet. He poured a large amount of oil into the pot before realising he forgot to set the fire underneath. 

Getting onto his hands and news to crawl under the pot to the buddle of sticks with the fire starter underneath. He clicked his lighter a few times, struggling to get it too light. Kremy was about to give up and try another lighter he had before he smelt coal. Turning back to the bundle of sticks he saw Gideon on one knee lighting the figure, getting it set up effortlessly. He was aways better with lighters than Kremy was. The man quickly rose back up and Gideon laughed at the sight of his apron. 

“Always love that apron.” He said, whipping the dirt off his knees. “You know, you always reminded me of an alligator.” 

“Why? Because I’m cold blooded?” Kremy replied, folding his arms with a sly smile. Gideon chuckled before waving his hand back and forth.

“No, mainly cause your sharp wit. Anyway, I got the alcohol sorted, it’s all in the left-over ice getting cold, but I did pick you up this from the store.” Gideon fumbled around in his pocket before eventually throwing a small item at the older man. As Kremy caught it, he opened his hand to see a key chain with a small pink and white unicorn on it. He looked up to watch Gideon sheepishly rubbing his hand behind his head “Had to push around five kids out of the way for it.” Kremy laughed back before putting it his pocket.

“Thanks, Gid, I love unicorns.” Giving a big smile before turning back to the pot to pour the flour in, to create the roux. Stirring it and watching it go from pale yellow to brown.

 “How did Twigs get on with the shopping?” Gideon walked up to the pot with some dirt in hand to throw over the flames, to calm the heat down.

“Pretty good. She is adorable despite her ominous thoughts at times. She’s currently cutting up the vegetables and being my sous chef.” Kremy turned to see the younger girl chopping up the peppers as fine as she could, before turning to the pair with a big smile on her face. Gideon waved at her and gave her a big thumbs up.

“It’s weird, I know we've only known her a short while…but she feels like a daughter to me.” Gideon rubbed the back of his head. “Guess this is how Gricko must have felt when he adopted Hootise.”

“Never took you for a family man Gid?” Kremy responded, continuing to stir the roux to make sure it didn’t burn. Staring deep into it. 

“I’m not! Which is why it’s so strange. I was fixing up the ferris wheel the other day, and she just shadowed me. Then after I just ran around with her on my shoulders. I don’t know, I just got this urge to protect her. And help her with her homework? And she absolutely adores you as well.”

“Could you kindly pass me the veg she just cut?” Kremy, without looking up from the pot, pointed towards Twig. Gideon hummed before turning to the girl cutting vegetables. Kremy listened to the chatter from a distance before zoning out into his own thoughts.

He should have suspected Gideon would want a family. He was made for one. 

Made to one day settle down after he was done doing Kremy dirty work. However, he knew at this point in time Gideon enjoyed fighting too much to give up on the carnival, but what would happen when he did eventually want to leave. Who would Kremy turn to you, who would be there for him. Maybe then he would have to finally return to Mr Garou…

“I got the veg!” he heard the man from behind say, “I don’t know how she did it, but she manged to cut the peppers into little flowers.” 

“She does realise the holy trinity will just break down in the roux, right?” Kremy said, raising an eyebrow, Gideon just laughed as he threw them into the pot, as Kremy looked horrified.

“Maybe, but it sure is cute-” 

“You threw the vegetables in too early!” Kremy started pulling on his dreads, before turning to his new enemy “Out of my kitchen! Now!” Kremy yelled as he started chasing Gideon with a wooden spoon, Gideon making a b line over to Twigs. 

“Protect me Twiggsie!” Gideon laugh, kneeling down next to Twigs.

Kremy huffed trying to think of the best way to save his gumbo without burning the veg, before hearing a monotone giggle from the sidelines.

“You fit the roll of a nagging wife very well.” Frost said, holding up pile of plates to place next to the cook. 

“Shut up Frost.”

After leaving the gumbo to sit for around an hour, Kremy added the prawns and got ready to serve. He took out a small fold up table and placed 7 bowls on there, one of them being owl shaped for Hootise. As he ladled the stew onto her plate, she gave him a smile before running off to eat her food while playing on her iPad. Everybody else was able to sort themselves out and make sure they were plated up, while Gideon got some beers out for everybody, and an apple juice for Twigs.

“You can drink alcohol …right Twiggsie?” Gideon squinted at the younger woman, which caused her to pout. 

“I’m 14! So yeah!”

“Haha trick question, I was gonna give you a juice no matter what! “Giddeon ruffled her hat around, placing her drink in front of her, before walking over to grab his plate. Kremy had piled it high knowing how much the younger liked to eat. Gideon was more concerned about the smaller plate that Kremy made for himself. “Kremy give yourself more.”

Kremy looked up, pulling a face in confusion “I beg your pardon?”

“Give yourself more food! Your skin and bone!”

“Gid if I wanna eat more food I will get more, this is enough for now!”

“Nuh uh!” Gideon grabbed the spoon out of Kremy hand and started ladling the stew and adding more rice to the plate, before shoving it into his friends’ hands “and that plate better be finished mister!” He gave Kremy a big smile, causing the older man to blush, before grabbing a fork and looking down at his plate. 

“Thanks, Gid…” God he would give anything to kiss him at this moment.

As a friend. 

Iconically.

The pair sat down next to each other on the fold up chairs they had placed around a fire Gricko, and frost had set up. Putting his plate down he raised a glass in the air.

“This is to use surviving the summer season, and also for our newest member of Carnival Lecroux, Twigs!” the whole group cheered as twigs stood up to bow.

“Go on Twiggsie, speech!” Gideon shouted, clapping for her. She quickly cleared her throat before standing proudly.

“Gideon told me to say something, and well, I just wanted to say that, um.” she suddenly got nervous, looking down at her feet, before continuing “thank you all for looking after me! You all mean a lot to me! Even Torbek, even though he tried to hurt me the first time we met…and destroyed my house.”

“Sorryyyy…” Torbek said.

“But thank you! I can't wait to continue working with you! And I hope Gideon buys me more presents and cake!” She said before sitting down and starting to eat. Kremy turned to Gideon to raise an eyebrow.

“What!? I can't say no to her face!” He explained in a loud whisper to him.

As the gang ate, Kremy looked around to see how everybody was reacting to his cooking. Gricko seemed to be trying to get his daughter to eat her vegetables, while Torbek ate with his hands, much to Frosts disgust. Twigs was sitting close to Gideon, engulfing the food like it was the best food she had ever eaten. 

“Kremy this is amazing!” twigs said, looking up at him with stars in her eyes. Gideon laughed and patted her back.

“I know right! If I could eat Kremy’s cooking every day for the rest of my life I would.”

This caused Kremy checks to go a dark maroon, before he could say anything he was interrupted by frost.

“You already do Gideon; he basically cooks all your meals.” Frost rolled his eyes while Gideon sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

“If I could eat any bodies cooking again it would be my uncle Glorbos, he always did make the best sandwiches…there’s something so magically about food gotten from the dumpster.”

“Torbek loves dumpster diving toooooo…. well, Torbek did until he got to sleep in a bed, suddenly Torbek hated the dumpster.” Torbek chimed in, causing Kremy and Gideon too look at each other.

“Torbek, you sleep in a bed?” Kremy asked raising an eyebrow, “We only have four, between our trailers, who are you sharing with?” 

This is when frost went pale, a slight pink appearing on his cheeks as he looked down into his stew, however Hootise let out a soft hoot before getting closer to frost to cuddle into him, nuzzling into his arm. 

“Aww Hootise, you love frosty don’t you,” Gricko ruffled her hair, causing her too pout. “Torbek is sleeping in my trailer! Originally, I was sleeping on a sleeping bag on the floor and gave the bed too Hootise, but then frosty offered me his bed to sleep in, but it turns out Hootise LOVES sleeping in between Frosty and myself.” Gricko said with a massive smile. Kremy turned to Gideon to raise his eyebrow to give him a ‘I told you ‘Look. Gideon responding by rolling his eyes and raising his brow as if to say, ‘them sharing a bed doesn’t mean there together!’ Kremy was about to give another look before they noticed Twigs staring up at the two of them with her eyebrows raised as well, trying to join in. 

Frost opened his mouth to say something before they all noticed Hootise shake her head, getting up and pushing frost and Gricko next to each other. Frost got redder while Gricko just laughed. However, the pair watched that even Gricko was starting to go red.

“Sometimes Hootise likes the outside! And me and Frosty have to cuddle, but its ok cause he’s my best lad.” Gricko quickly scooped Hootise up, with her making a soft coo. “Right, it’s your bedtime now missy, let’s put you to bed.” 

Gideon gave frost a look, while Kremy watched Gricko walk over to Frost trailer to put his daughter to bed, once they entered and closed the door he quickly turned to frost. 

“Frosty, would you kindly explain your relationship with Gricko to us.” He said with a smile on his face, while Gideon turned to nod in agreement. Twigs opened her mouth in shock.

“Are you a real-life fanfic troupe of there was only one bed!?” she stated, everybody giving her a confused look before turning back to look at Frost. 

“Well, I just enjoy holding something when I sleep- “Frost went to start saying before Gricko came back out again before putting his hand on Frost shoulder.

“Friends Cuddle, Frosty is basically a dad to Hootise as well, and she enjoys being next to her dads while sleeping. Also, we’ve literally hooked up Frosty, how are you getting more flustered over the fact you’re cuddling with rather than you shoving me up against that wall over there and -.”

“YOU DID IT ON THE CARNIVAL GROUNDS??!” Kremy yelled, in absolute shock. With Gideon covering Twigs ears as quick as he could.

“I mean, it wasn’t as bad as Gideon and Frost going at it, now that it was dirty.”

“Frost, you’re kinda a sluuut.” Torbek chimed in, Gideon just laughed at it all. 

“Torbek you can say shit, didn’t you and frost hook up that one time where we got drunk and pretended, we were in a cooking show?” the buffer man asked, looking at the two of them. Torbek went bright red now, making Gideon howl with laughter more. “Yeah, that was stupid, think we were drinking that strange purple drink Torbek made us, and we just DID it! I thought I was a frog prince or something?” Gideon explained, trying to say it as quietly as he could so twigs couldn't hear through his hands.

Frost was now bright red as Gricko rubbed his back, laughing at his friend’s embarrassment. Kremy knew about Gideon and Frost as he accidentally walked in on it when it was happening , and at the time he remembered being disgusted by it, mainly because it was happening right next to the area of the park where there was still some guests walking around, but now thinking about it…he felt sorrow.

“Am I the only one you haven't slept with?” Kremy asked raising an eyebrow at him, making frost pull down his hood in shame.

If this is how Gideon treated frost, just laughing about the hook up, what did he think about what they did…that night.

“Do you really need to go out and find some random floozie to fuck? Is your hand not good enough?”

Kremy always knew. He knew when he woke up the next morning and Gideon was gone, that it meant nothing, and it was just a quick fuck. How when Gideon came to get Kremy from his room and wanted to talk about what happened, but Kremy cut him off saying there was nothing to talk about, smiling at his best friend. He had to have total control over the situation. He couldn’t lose his best friend. The one-off was there for him through thick and thin, the pretty and the nasty. How when Gideon learnt more about Kremy, he found him more interesting. When Kremy was being his worst self, Gideon said this was the best version of him. How when Gideon accidently murdered one of the clowns, chuckles, they spent the evening covering it up, feeding the body to pigs, talking shit the entire night, smiling, and laughing. How Kremy knew he would never find a friend like that ever again. 

He leaned to put his head on Gideons shoulder, continuing to eat in silence, while Gideon grabbed his waist to pull him closer. Finally uncovering Twigs ears now that the conversation had changed. He rubbed gentle circles into his waist with his thumb, almost like he was trying to comfort him. At least after everything Gideon still was affectionate the same way they always were. Gideon was always so warm, and Kremy was always so cold…he needed to keep Gideon in his life anyway possible. He did notice Frost, Gricko, and Torbek give each other a look. 

“So, are you guys just a poly couple then? If most of you have done it?” twigs said loudly, making everybody look at her. 

“I mean technically speaking! We are a found family so if that makes a poly couple.” Gricko said proudly.

“Torbek has only done it with Clementine…and Frost” Torbek said sadly, which caused Frost to smack him on the back of the head.

“Don't say that in front of twigs. Gricko a poly couple means we are all dating each other.” Frost said, holding his hands to his head.

“Does that explain why Gideon and Kremy smell the same then.” Twigs asked. 

Kremy quickly detached himself from Gideon to start collecting the plates to clean, wanting to remove himself from the situation as quickly as possible. 

Kremy looked at himself in the reflection of the pot of water he was boiling to clean the plates. All he saw was a bitter old man, yearning to feel the love he felt for his best friend. He was a coward. Gideon was too good for him; he was keeping Gideon against his will and one day he would leave. He picked up a plate to start scrubbing.

He needed to stop; he had no idea why he had gotten this bad in recent months. Ever since the hookup he feels like he’s losing grip of him, even when he’s right next to him. There would be nights where the two would fall asleep on the sofa in Kremy office, Gideon holding him and snoring in his ear, and Kremy wide awake holding on for dear life so he couldn’t leave, but he would always wake up alone. They would go out and he would see Gideon flirting with woman or men and all he wanted to do was tell them to back off from HIS husband! His LEGAL HUSBAND! GIDEON WAS HIS HUSBAND!

Kremy looked down to see he accidently broke the plate he was washing. On closer inspection it was a plate that Hootise had made for Gricko out of clay. He would need to fix that before Gricko could get too upset about it. Kremy quickly hid it under a dishcloth, making a mental note to bring it back to his trailer to hide it. 

Everything was upsetting him about the situation, no matter where he looked, he found a reason to be upset. 

“Kremy are you alright?” he heard from behind him, when he turned his head he saw the shorter man, Gricko standing below him, holding some empty glasses for washing. Shit.

“Yeah just…thinking about stuff.” Kremy sighed, quickly throwing another dishcloth over the broken plate, before returning to scrubbing the other dishes.

“You know, me and the lads were talkin…” Gricko started to talk while putting the glasses down. “You’ve been actin a bit off ever since you and Gideon went out of town for that honeymoon.”

“Ironic honeymoon.” Kremy corrected him. Oh god, here we go he thought. It was time to speak about that night. The night that was the reason he was feeling the way he was. A few weeks ago, himself and Gideon wanted to go downtown for a night just drink, gamble, and have a night to themselves. They kept calling it the ironic honeymoon for their wedding. It was in joke between the group, then they kept it going during the getaway. How they went out to dinner that night they told the restaurant they were on their honeymoon, so they got free dessert and prosecco. 

“Right…so here’s the thing, right.” Gricko put his hands together and pointed at Kremy “Gideon is also acting off; he keeps sulking every time you walk away. And personally, and I'm talking for Frosty and Torbek here too, we are getting real sick of it and just need you two to talk.”

“There's nothing to talk about Gricko!” Kremy turned to Gricko and raised his hands in the air in frustration “I know Gideon more than anybody! I know that what happened that night means nothing to him!” he said storming up to pick up more dirt, scooping it into his hands while mumbling words of frustration.

Gricko blinked at him in silence, his mouth open in shock, before clearing his throat “Right, I hope I don't regret asking this but, what happened that night?”

Kremy threw the remainder of the dirt into the fire to put it out “Nothing happened that night. Gricko raised an eyebrow at him, making Kremy rolling his eyes before looking around quickly, grabbing Grickos arm to pull him behind his trailer. “Ok you are to repeat this to NOBODY.” 

“My lips are sealed…from a certain point of view.” He said quietly under his breath before making a zipping motion over his mouth. Kremy sighed, collecting himself before finding the courage to talk.

“So, we went out of time for our ironic honeymoon, and after a night of gambling we went back to the shitty hotel we were staying at...”

The bar at the hotel they were staying at was quite. It was a cheep bar, filled with watered down drinks and shady looking characters, but it got the job done. The staff didn't bother Kremy and Gideon as they sat drinking top-shelf whiskey they had stolen from a high end store on the other side of town. The staff didn't interrupt them when Kremy started gambling with other patrons in the bar, or when things got violent and Gideon took them outside and beat them up. They just rolled their eyes as Kremy ordered a packet of cigarettes and a cigar to enjoy with their drink. 

“You know what I like most about you Kremy?” Gideon said, taking a large puff of his cigar as he sat on a chair in the smoking area outside. Kremy slid his cigarette into his holder before trying to light it.

“And what's that Gid?” He asked, clicking the lighter and watching it fail to ignite, before Gideon took the lighter out of his hands to light it for him.

“I love it when you get me to beat people up on your behalf, and how you have no issue with how dirty I get doing it.” He chuckled, before laying back again to take a draw of his cigar. Kremy watched as he took a draw of his cigarette, before taking his hat off and letting his dreadlocks down.

“And do you know what I love most bout you Gid?” Kremy turned to face him, not giving the other party a chance to respond “I love it when you beat people up! It's a win win for us, friend.” he tapped the cigarette ash into the ashtray, before taking another drink of whiskey “I love it when you come back covered in blood and so proud of yourself.” Kremy leaned over to whip some of the blood off Gideon's cheek with his thumb, before bringing it to his mouth to lick.

He watched as Gideon's eyes widened , and he smirked at this, loving how sadistic his friend was.

“It gets me going, nothing gets me more pumped than fighting.” Gideon flexed his muscles. Kremy placed a hand over them to feel his biceps.

“Such a good boy for me, beating up anybody who gets in our way.” Kremy purred, and Kremy sore he heard Gideon hold back a moan, coming out as a grunt.

This seemed to be a common occurrence when the pair drank alone, as they would flirt back and forth with each other. One thing Kremy always remembered was that Gideon LOVED being called a good boy. 

Kremy quickly finished his cigarette and went to pour himself another drink, before realising the bottle was empty. “I'm gonna head upstairs, think I've another bottle of something in my room.”

“I'm finished here, I'll just follow you then.” Gideon got up and put his cigar out, and kremy stood up and pulled on Gideon's suspenders.

“Such an obedient puppy, always following me around.” He told the larger man before letting go of the suspenders, watching it snap before turning around to walk to his room. If he didn't heard him moan earlier he certainly did now.

Kremy knew he was playing with fire, that this could have a lot more repercussions than he realised, but he didn't care. All he wanted right now was too keep pushing and see how far he could go.

When they arrived back to Kremys room for the night, the older man quickly found the bottle of whiskey he had. Opening it and taking a swig, before handing it over to his companion. Gideon grabbed the bottle and started to chug, as Kremy watched the liquid flow out of his mouth and dribble down his chin. This caused him to laugh as he took off his jacket and bowtie, before grabbing the bottle off of Gideon.

“Remember, sharing is caring.” licking the rim of the bottle, before taking another swig himself and putting the bottle down, sitting on the bed. watching as his friend sat on the armchair in front of him. “What else do you like about me Gid.”

“Let's see, I love it when you gamble. Love watching your brain tick knowing you're going to scam people out of everything they own, or when you trick people into giving up things they need. I love how conniving you are.”

“Really, even when I tricked you into marrying those 3 women?”

“Hey, I got to marry my best friend as well, this is our honeymoon after all!” Gideon laughed before grabbing the bottle and taking another drink. Kremy stared at him with hunger watching his Adam's apple bob up and down. 

“And you were so good for going along with my plan. Always so good for me.” Kremy said, watching Gideon stop drinking and the liquor catch his throat. 

“Kremy you need to stop talking to me like that…” Gideon put the bottle down next to him before looking at his friends with pleading eyes. 

“Why's that, do you not like it?” Kremy was now getting way too close to the flame, one wrong move and his house of cards would come crumbling down.

“Kremy… if you don't stop I'm going to have to find a slut to fuck … this is turning me on way too much…” 

Kremy couldn't stop, he had to jump straight into the fire. He hopped off the bed before straddling Gideon, cupping his face in his long boney fingers, brushing the hair of his beard.

“Are you really that turned on by being called a good boy?” 

“Yeah…something bout the praise has me…Kremy don't sit like that.” Gideon moaned. 

“Like what?” Kremy laughed, planting his ass straight onto Gideon's crotch. Instantly feeling the throbbing member in his pants pushing up against him. “Oh my, guess you do like being called MY good boy…” he continued, starting to rock his hips against Gideon's crotch, before feeling his friends hands on his waist, fingers digging into his skin so tight they would bruise. Gideon stared at him with dilated eyes, before opening his mouth to speak again.

“I … I like it, when you call me a good boy, it makes me so hard.”

Kremy felt his pants get tighter.

“Do you really need to go out and find some random floozie to fuck? Is your hand not good enough?” Kremy nuzzled his way into Gideon's neck, whispering into his ear.

“I need something tight, I needa stick my cock into a tight hole and pound them like they belong to me.” Gideon groaned as he bucked his hips into his friend, Kremy moaning in response, moving his hands to grab onto his shoulders like his life depends on it. Kremy adjusted so his crotch was on top of Gideon's, letting his friend continue to dry hump him.

“Would a fuckin slut really satisfy you?” Kremy started to say, before Gideon interrupted him.

“With Anal? Yes! I would grab her by the hips and flip her onto her front, positioning her in Doggy style while …ugh.” Gideon bucked harder, pushing Kremy down more. Panting with his mouth wide open. Eyes huge, practically begging for Kremy to break him.

This was what made Kremy snap. 

Looking over Gideon's mouth he grasped his face again and spat into it. Watching it fall into as Gideon swallowed like it was his last meal, bucking slower but harder.

“Good boy, drinking up my spit.” He bent down to Gideon's ear to whisper into it, doing what he did best, sweet talking his way into what he wanted.

“You know, you're not the only one who wanted some action tonight. I was actually planning on trying to find somebody myself, that's why I'm stretched out at the moment.” He heard Gideon moan as he said this, not even trying to hide it now. “ It would be so rude for you to leave your husband alone on our honeymoon, wouldn't it?” 

Gideon stopped moving his hips, causing kremy to get up from his neck to look at his friend, but before he could even take a glance, he was thrown onto the bed.

His dreads sprawled out on the sheets, as he looked up and saw Gideon looking-

“Ok I do NOT need to hear the rest of that!” Gricko cut Kremy off halfway through his story. “Can you please skip to the end?!” 

“Alright,” Kremy sighed.So basically, Gideon man-handled me around the room, like he picked me up and pushed me against the wall-” He stopped talking as Gideon waved his hands, practically begging him to skip to the end.  “I woke up the next morning in my room alone. So, I got dressed quickly, and when he finally came back up, he wanted to talk about what happened, I told him there was nothing to talk about and we left to-”

“You seem upset by the fact you woke up alone more than anything.” Gricko cut him off, with his hand in his chin, rubbing it quizzically. 

In retrospect, Gricko wasn't wrong. When Kremy woke up the next morning, naked and alone, he cried. He knew Gideon would leave, and that he wasn't enough for him. Through tears he quickly showered and got dressed, angry and upset his clothes were ripped. He was furious almost, so he did the only thing he knew he could in these situations to stay in control.

Lie.

On the way back to the carnival Kremy continued conversation like normal, but while Gideon joined in naturally, he seemed off. Kremy knew this was the beginning of the end, and that eventually he was going to disconnect from him. So, he decided to disconnect first.

Which he found impossible to do. No matter he did, he couldn't figure out how to leave Gideon. When he tried to pull away, he would get cold and go back to Gideon for warmth. The man who continued to buy him coffee every morning, who have up his bed for twigs and slept on Kremy sofa, making his office always smell like Gideon.

Kremy was nothing but in love and wanted nothing more than for Gideon to be in his life forever.

“I guess you're right…” Kremy sheepishly responded.

“Listen, sometimes when Torbek is having a bad episode, all I can do is wait for him to talk about it, but once he does, he always feels better!” Gricko smiled, “I think you need to talk to Gideon and get that weight off your chest.”

“I can't afford to lose him; I have nobody back home and I-” Kremy started to panic before Gricko cut him off.

“Hey, you’re forgetting the golden rule! This is your home, and no matter what happens we will support you two no matter what.”

“Yeah yeah…I know…” Kremy knew Grickos heart was in the right place but couldn't shake the sadness. He needed to face what happened eventually…. but maybe for one more night he could have his Gideon.

After the clean-up was done Gricko has decided to play some music for the group, which caused Torbek to fall asleep, head placed on Grickos lap. Forst had also decided to doze off leaning his head into Grickos shoulder. It was quite an adorable site. Another adorable site was Gideon dancing with Twigs, around the campfire. Calling her things like “my lady” and how he was her knight. Picking her up to swing her around, before she began to yawn, a clear sign it was time for her to go to bed. As the faint sounds of the ocarina began to die down, Gideon picked her up in her arms to bring him to his trailer, before coming back out with an expensive bottle of wine.

“Hey Kremy, wanna have a drink?” He asked, pointing how the other three had now fallen asleep. Kremy nodded, before Gideon grabbed his hand to drag him away to the other side of the carnival grounds. Near the willow trees, and a clear sign of the bright moon in the sky. Gideon grabbed two paper cups before pouring a cup for the other.

“You know Frost is Jealous of Torbek?” Gideon told him, while passing him his cup. Kremy raised an eyebrow.

“Jealous?” 

“Yeah, apparently, he's worried Gricko is gonna replace him as a best friend! Which are Nuts.”

“Huh…that explains why he's been acting standoffish…”

“I did think it was funny how the minute Torbek fell asleep on Grickos, frost got competitive with it.” Gideon let out a laugh, filling the air around them.

Kremy loved that laugh.

The air was then filled with silence as the two of them looked up at the moon, Kremy sitting down on a stump, and Gideon joining him. Sitting so close together that their legs were touching. Eventually Gideon put his arm around Kremy shoulder, Kremy once again placing his head on Gideons shoulder, enjoying the peace. 

“You know, twigs are really happy you're teaching her to cook.” Gideon said softly. “She said she just wants to make you proud.”

“She knows how to cook though,” Kremy turned to him in confusion. 

“She knows how to bake; cooking and baking are two different things! I thought that our MasterChef would know that.” Gideon chucked, turning to face Kremy. Kremy could see Gideon was looking straight into his eyes, making him get flustered. If the pair were a couple this would be the Perfect time to kiss him. Taste him again. Suddenly it all became too real. Their legs touching, Gideon's arm around him, making him feel encased. Like he had no control on the situation. Kremy quickly jumped up off the stump, quickly downing his cup of wine before turning to Gideon.

“Well, I think it's time I hit the hay-” he started to say, with a smile on his face, before he was cut off.

“You always do this Kremy…” Kremy looked down to see Gideons face in his hand, clearly upset. “Every time…”

“What do I do?” Kremy tried to play dumb, knowing it would fail, but all he could do was try. Gideon looked back up with a more frustrated look now, eyeing the older man up and down.

“We need to talk.”

“No, we don't-”

“Yes, we do Kremy.” Gideon got up to stand at the same level as him “sit down because I've got something to say.” 

Kremy quickly shuffled around to take his place back on the stump, staring directly at the ground, terrified of the next words that will come out of his best friend’s mouth. This was it; this was the end. He braced himself, feeling his whole-body tense up.

“I'm sorry.” Gideon let out a sigh. Kremy’s eyes snapped open, looking up at Gideon.

“I beg your pardon?!”

“Look I'm sorry! I've been doing some thinking and I think I overstepped your boundaries. I…” Gideon trailed off, looking to the side. “Ever since that night, you've been acting different, distance. I feel like there's a wall and you’re not letting me in anymore, and …I can't take that.” He clenched his fists in frustration “the last thing I wanna do is lose you! So, I'm sorry!” 

Kremy felt his breath catch in his throat, before feeling something wet falling down his face. He was crying. One tear at a time dripping down as he watched his friend open up about his feelings “Gid…”

“Please…I can't lose this connection to you, who else is gonna help me hide the body of the next clown I accidentally kill.” 

“I'm just…” Kremy started, suddenly the confusion was replaced with a twinge of angry, “if I mean that much to you, why did I wake up alone that morning.” We weren’t able to look Gideon in the eye when talking, but he could hear the confusion in his voice.

“Because I went to get you coffee! Literally I walked back into the hotel room with coffee and breakfast for you and you totally blanked me! Told me there was nothing to talk about! Do you know how confusing that is!” 

Kremy continued to look down. He only remembered waking up alone, but Gideon getting him coffee was true. He remembered Gideon handing him fresh pastry, flakey and warm. But he was so upset that morning about being left alone he saw it as him trying to cover his own tracks. Kremy gritted his teeth, confused in what to think. “And every other time?”

“On the sofa? The sofa hurts! I’m too big for it, and I had to go make sure all the rides were working for the day. Also, I brought you coffee then!” Gideon was looking at Kremy with an air of confusion “I would always come back with coffee for you, and by the time I got back, you were gone! Gideon got up close to him and sat beside him once again, his facial expression changing to one of softness “does waking up alone bother you?”

Kremy thought to why it bothered him so much. Maybe it was because he missed the warmth, always waking up cold, or maybe he enjoyed being held in the night. Most of all he just needed to be next to Gideon. He needed his warmth, his smell, his smile. Kremy wanted to wake up the morning and cuddle him more, maybe plant a small kiss on his head before curling back up to his chest, “Gid, I don't want you to view what we did as regrettable, it's made me develop some real fucking unnecessary feelings about us.” 

“Do you regret it?”

“NO!” Kremy quickly turned to look at Gideon, grabbing him, more tears falling silently down his face. “If I could have it again I would! I just … I'm so scared of you slipping away.” Gideon put his hand to Kremy’s face to wipe away a tear. Staring deep into his eyes, almost like he wanted to kiss him.

“Don't cry beautiful, I will always be here with you.” Gideon whispered. “I'm sorry, I should have been clearer with you. I never meant to make you feel alone.” Kremy leant down into his hands. They felt rough and hard, perfect for Kremy. He looked at him through his golden eyes, and finally spoke again.

“Gideon, please never leave me.” He asked. This was the most he could confess, unable to say what he truly wanted, wanted to confess how he truly felt, before Gideon took the words from his mouth.

“I never would, I love you Kremy.” Placing their foreheads together. “You mean the world to me, and I couldn't ask for a better husband.” He said with love laced in his voice, before he got down on one knee and pulled something out of his pocket. A small velvet box, and when opened, showed two simple gold bands. Kremy stared in shock. They were beautiful.

“Gideon how did you- “

“Kremy, I know we always joked about us getting rings in an ironic sense, but I thought about it. I don’t want to ironic anymore, I want our relationship to be, well, would you be my husband, non-ironically?”  He took one of the rings out of the box, to place over Kremy fingers. Kremy allowed him to slip it on, fitting loosely around his finger, he would need to get it fitted. “See, it fits perfectly on you.” Gideon chuckled.

“How did you afford this?” Kremy asked, looking at the ring shine. It was clearly expensive and not cheep metal. 

“How do you think, I stole them. Figured since we were gonna be hitting the road soon might as well risk it. So, what do you think?” 

Kremy gave Gideon a soft smile. “Only if you promise not to leave me alone in the bed in the morning, your only allowed to get up when I tell you.”

“That’s easy, I’ll keep you warm no matter what…babe.” Gideon smiled back.

“Good boy.” Kremy said with a soft laugh, causing Gideon to blush. He slipped the other ring onto Gideons Hand. They looked beautiful together and felt correct. Gideon Lecroux…. Kremy Coal…it was perfect.

The two enjoyed the silence before Gideon broke it “so can I finally tell you what I wanted to talk to you about that morning.” Kremy nodded as Gideon got closer to him to whisper in his ear, placing one hand on his waist and the other on his leg. “That was the best sex I ever had in my life, and if I could- “ 

Kremy cut him off after feeling Gideons hand feel his thigh, hitting him lightly with his cane “Nope! Not when I’ve been cooking all day you horn dog, I will SHOWER…then you can continue your story.” Kremy winked, before he quickly stood up and held his hand out to Gideon, his husband.Non iconically.

As Gideon grabbed the hand and they made their way back to the campsite, Kremy leaned into Gideons shoulder to rest on it. 

“You can share my bed tonight.” He told them, and Gideon let out a sigh of relief.“

Oh, thank god, because I was getting sick of that sofa.”