Page 94 of Gratification in Gluttony

“Yeah. I shouldn’t have said what I said or left like that. You were saying things that I’d been pretending weren’t there, and I didn’t wanna hear it. And I lashed out, and I’m sorry. Gemmy, I’m sorry.” Toni brushed his knuckles down Gem’s middle arm. “Can you forgive me?”

Head rolling against the door, Gem finally looked at him. “Of course, I can forgive you. I shouldn’t have let you leave—”

“You couldn’t have stopped me.”

Gem cupped Toni’s cheek with his upper hand. “I still should have tried.”

“I’m sorry,” Toni said again, eyes burning.

“Me too,” Gem said, leaning in to press his forehead to Toni’s. “Wait, are you wearing makeup?”

“Yeah.”

“It looks nice.”

And Toni sniffled out a pathetic, “Thanks.”

“Why do you smell like sex?” Gem asked with a wrinkle of his nose.

“Jude and I fucked,” Toni said around his sniffles. “But Ollie came home, and—Gem, you were right. You were right about everything.”

“I usually am,” Gem said in an attempt at levity, softening when Toni’s face crumpled. “Oh, Toni, it’s okay. Come inside and tell me what happened.”

“You’re too good for me, you know that?” Toni let Gem help him to his feet, and the Araknis snorted.

“I’m fully aware of that. I’ve always been out of your league, you bastard,” Gem said, sniffing loudly as he wiped at his cheeks with a middle hand. “You’re so lucky I love you.”

Toni laughed thickly. “I know.”

“Stupid asshole,” Gem muttered as he led Toni into his apartment.

“Diva bitch,” Toni shot back, though there was no heat, given that he was crying and all.

Gem half-laughed, half-cried as he enveloped Toni in a hug, and Toni held on for dear life. Eventually, they parted, and Gem forced him to shower because, “I’m not cuddling with you when you’re covered in Jude’s jizz.”

“It’s my jizz, technically,” Toni corrected, and Gem pursed his lips and silently pointed at the bathroom.

So Toni showered, then he crawled into Gem’s bed in his underwear and practically collapsed on top of his best friend. Gem wrapped him up, numerous hands petting him all over as his leg slotted between Gem’s. Closing his eyes, Toni listened to the comforting rhythm of Gem’s hearts and sighed.

“What happened?” Gem asked after a fashion.

“I crossed the veil, and Jude was… He was just really nice about everything. I was crying, and he didn’t even care.”

“But you’re such an ugly crier,” Gem said, and Toni snorted.

“I know, but he held me and let me ugly-cry all over him.”

“That’s sweet.”

Turning his head, he tucked his face under Gem’s chin and traced the red swirls on Gem’s chest with his index finger. “Then we were talking, and I told him about Pop catching me with the makeup.”

The hand in Toni’s hair twitched, pressing harder to his scalp. But Gem didn’t interrupt him as he kept going.

“He painted my nails and did my eye makeup. He said that I was pretty. Then we fucked, and, Gem—” Toni shook his head. “I don’t know, it was something else. And it was perfect. But then Ollie came home, and Jude freaked out. Told me to stay in his room and be quiet.”

Gem’s fur vibrated, releasing a barely audible angry hum, but Toni soothed him, rubbing at his chest. “Hey, it’s okay. Jude has his reasons—”

“Bullshit,” Gem snapped.

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