Twenty-Two

                                    

                                          
Killer sighed as his lover trudged to the sofa. He'd been tired for weeks now, and it was getting more and more worrying. He sat down with him, watching some late night television.
To his surprise, the king passed out half way through the movie. He was so used to him staying up past midnight, only to be awake rather early in the morning, that it was nice seeing him rest before it was an unreasonable hour.
"Alright, Princess, time for bed," the other said quietly as he gently lifted him. He ignored his small whimpers as he carried him oh so romantically to bed.

"Monster!"
"Freak!"
"Devil!"
Nightmare tried his best to catch his breath, getting stressed out in the overstimulating situation. He rubbed his arms, trying to calm himself and tune out the voices. No matter what he did, they all rang in his head, bouncing off each other on the inside of his skull.
Children crying. Women yelling. Men screaming. Everyone, human and monster alike, had come together to harass him. To surround him. To terrorize him. To hurt him.
"Get out of our village, you monster!" a woman yelled out, throwing a book at him. It hit him in his head, leaving a purpling mark on his skull.
"No one wants you!" a man added, throwing a rock.
Before he knew it, they were all at it, shooting insults at him, throwing items at him. People helped their children throw rocks and eggs. Rotten tomatoes and sticks. Apples and books. How they loved to throw apples and books. To be ironic, he supposed. To throw things that would represent him, to hurt him.
"Stop..." Nightmare shivered, gaining strength to speak. He slowly tried to sit up, but a boot was thrown, hitting him in the back of the neck.
"That's what you get!" a child's voice yelled. Suddenly, the ballsy kid ran up and kicked him in the ribs.
"I... said... stop." Nightmare smacked the child down as he jumped to his feet. He glared down at them, wanting to do more. To make them hurt just a fraction of what he did.
"M-Mommy!" The kid crawled away, weakly getting to their feet and running to their mother.
The dark entity glared daggers at the child. How weak and pathetic. They could kick a god, but the moment they got hurt, they ran to their mommy, wailing like a pussy. Why, it was pathetic.
"You monster!"
"Damn fiend!"
"Devil!"
"Child abuser!"
"You monster!"
"Monster!"
"You disgusting monster!"
The words were almost enough to beat him down to his knees again, but Nightmare refused. He wouldn't not be forced down in pain by mortals! He would never let them get away with this! Never! Never!
Suddenly, the god shoved past a weak area in the crowd, successfully making it to the outside. He felt so much more free now. He could breathe.
The moon prince sprinted away, running as fast as he could to the tree. He just had to outrun the mob, lose them in the dense forest, and make it to the tree. He felt like a hypocrite, glaring at the child for running to their mother, when he was doing the same. But a crowd harassing an innocent boy was different than a child being hit in self defense, wasn't it?
But he was a god. He should be above mortals, especially the children. Yet he was still a coward, running away instead of fighting.
Oh, but what good did fighting do? He could never win. He was a monster when he was harmless, and he was a monster when he attacked. It didn't matter what he did, he was a monster, a devil, a freak. He could never win.
By the time he made it to the magic apple tree, the mob had stopped chasing him. They could beat him again on a later time. But for now, he was safe.
"Nightmare?" Nim materialized in front of the tree. "What happened? You're crying! You're hurt!"
Nightmare looked up, seeing his mother standing there. He hadn't even realized he'd began to sob after he lost his followers.
"Mom!" He began to run up, tears running down his hot cheeks.
"Come here, Nighty." Nim kneeled, extending her arms for her son, in an all to familiar fashion. "Give your mother a hug."
"Mo— NO!" The prince tripped himself, falling back just before he made it close enough for Nim to reach. He crawled away, making sure she couldn't even attempt to make it to him. Not even with her feet, which weren't chained to the tree.
"Nightmare, give your mother a hug!" Nim scowled, glaring down at the haunted soul.
"No! No, this isn't right! You'd never care! You didn't care! This isn't right! It's not, it's not, it's not!" Nightmare was curled up on the ground, trying not to move with all the shaking he was doing.
"NIGHTMARE!" Nim screamed, reaching her hands as far as the chains would let her.
Nightmare screamed, punching towards the right. He covered his mouth, seeing that he socked his sweet boyfriend in the mouth.
"Okay, is that a no to sleeping together?" Killer sheepishly smiled, holding the left side of his mouth. They'd been sharing the bed every night since they'd started dating, so he thought it would be fine if crawled into bed with his lover.
"Oh my tree, I am so sorry! Are you okay?" Nightmare crawled over, gently taking his lover's face in his hands. "Oh, you're bleeding a little! Let's patch that up!"
The killer was grinning as his beloved dragged him down the stairs to the ground floor bathroom. This bathroom contained the medical cabinet, for everything that wasn't specific to a certain resident. So there, he got the rubbing alcohol and such, cleaning up the blood and adding the stinging cleaning liquid.
"Do you want ice? We should get ice." Nightmare dragged him to the kitchen.
Blueberry and Ink were in there, eating out of one of the tubs of ice cream in the freezer and talking. They looked at the couple, trying not to burst out laughing from how they looked.
"Damn. Do you not know how to kiss, Night?" Ink sniggered.
"Nah, Princess here has a self-defense mechanism for when he sleeps, so he'll punch you in the face if you try getting in bed with him!" Killer laughed, not taking it too personally. He found the whole ordeal funny.
"Don't tell people that!" Nightmare huffed, getting ice and pressing the cube against the busted lip.
"Aww! You two are so cute! I wish I could have a dynamic like you two one day!" Blue smiled, dreaming of that perfect relationship.
"I'll happily be your Nightmare if you'll be my Killer!" Ink joked, making boxer motions.
"Aww, you wish you guys could be as cute as us. We already win; any pairing with Nightmare is immediately the cutest because he's adorable!" Killer stuck out his tongue.
"Shut up, Killer." Nightmare blushed. "Lets go to bed."
"Try not to get your ass kicked before morning!" Ink called out, laughing his ass off as the two were teleported away with Killer's magic.
They got settled into bed, one amused, one upset. Nightmare was turned away, like always, as Killer turned off the lights with magic and hugged him from behind.
"I am sorry..."
"I know, Princess. I tease because I love."
"Can I do anything to make it better?"
"You can kiss it better."
Nightmare smiled and turned around. He gently kissed his lover, their lips moving quietly against each other's. The warmth made his face start to glow.
"You know, I'd kiss you silly for that cute face you're making, but I think my lip'll start bleeding again." Killer moved to nuzzle his neck, smiling. "Unless you wanna lick up all my blood. You got a blood fetish, Princess?"
"Ew, no, ya nasty." Nightmare smiled, petting the back of his skull. Slowly, he closed his eyes, finally at peace, for the first time in weeks, as he drifted off.