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Walking Home (Decadence and Candira)

When he heard her laugh, Keith could feel that rush of blood to his face, as he felt even more embarrassed, blushing uncontrollably. After taking a moment to realize that Sophie seemed to find it all so funny, he began to relax, breaking out in a slow chuckle himself. When he felt that hand on his shoulder, the shuddering in his hands began to subside.

He gave her a slow, timid nod after she wondered if that had been him. "Yeah, that's me. It was one of my first videos, so it was awful. Some of my more recent ones are much better, and I'd be more proud of showing you those." He then wondered what she'd think after he said that. Keith sighed in relief, then extended an arm around her waist, scooting in close to her. "I just wasn't ready to tell you yet, Sophie. I...I didn't know what you'd think of me if you knew I did such things. Even though that I somehow knew you'd understand, I would have waited a bit before telling you. It looks like someone wanted you to know sooner."

Keith then burst laughing. "I'm really glad you find it funny," he said, stifling his outburst a bit. "Please let it out, you sound really cute when you laugh anyway." Having said that, he had another pleasant bout of laughter. It felt alleviating and cathartic in some way. "I actually don't regret doing it. And yes, I got paid a lot for it." He then paused, biting his lip. "There's also something I'd like for you to know, yet I don't expect you to believe." Keith took a deep breath, then continued. "You know those tentacles you saw in that video? Well, it's not a special effect at all." He'd mind as well tell her the rest, since she knew this much already. "They're...um, they're real."
 
Sophie thought she'd never see him blush, but she was glad the day had come. He really was adorable when he did it. So he really was an active and working porn star? It took her a moment to wrap her mind around it, but she could see it making sense in a way. And this video certainly explained the tentacle drawing from before. She still had to laugh at the absurdity of the entire situation. She smiled up at him and ruffled his hair.

"Well, I admit that it's kind of a shock, but it could be much, much worse," she said with a smile. He pulled her closer and she didn't resist. "I'm flattered you think so highly of my opinion of you, but you shouldn't have to be ashamed, Keith. It's not really the ideal job to spring on me, but I'm glad you told me. But you realize you're never going to live this down, right?" she asked, grinning. Oh, so much ammunition. She was glad Keith was feeling better about it all now.

And then things took a turn for the strange. "What? No way. How's that possible? That couldn't have been you," she said, staring into his green eyes. What was he talking about?
 
"It's...complicated," Keith replied, drawing his lips back to show some teeth as he grit at them. "I'd...rather you find out rather than me telling you, since it won't make much sense," he said. He really did not know how to tell her this, since it wasn't exactly something that a lot of people knew. "Most people who have seen my videos think it's fake. Thank god for that. The truth is, it's not." Keith then studied her gray eyes for a bit. "I trust you enough to tell you something that only a handful of people on this planet probably know. I don't know how to explain it to you any other way, Sophie, but here goes. I'm a..."

He held his breath.

"I'm a tentacle monster."
 
Her lovely face had confusion written all over it as she watched him now. Would he really play with her this way? But why would he lie about it? Why would he look so...nervous and uncomfortable. Maybe the person who wanted her to see this really wanted her to know the secret he was telling her now. "What?" Something about it didn't sit right with her. She wondered if it was because it was just so far outside her realm of reason, or because she didn't want to believe it, but her mind simple couldn't accept the possibility right now.

She frowned, obviously trying to figure out how it was possible. "I want to believe you, but I'm not sure I can right now," she said, turning to sit down. She plopped down on her couch and sighed, leaning back before she looked back at him. "I swear to God, if you're just messing with me, I will visit such pain upon you." She motioned for him to come sit with her and watched him, just not seeing how it was possible.
 
As though it were a reflex, Keith accompanied her on the couch, sitting right beside her and wrapping an arm around her behind her neck. "I'm not," he said, trying to add as much conviction as he could so she would believe him. It was difficult to explain with a straight face for sure, and he was feeling really awkward about it now. "I guess I'm not expecting you to believe me until you see it, but I just wanted to share that with you, whether you want to or not."

With his hooked arm, he gently pulled her into him so she could lean her head against his. His hand went to her arm, feeling it. "Now this is a more comfortable position," Keith said, massaging the muscles in her bicep. "It just happened one time during the day we were shooting my first scene. It was a couple of years back. I was just doing some amateur stuff with this girl, and--come to think of it, she looked a lot like you. Red hair, cute face, eyes that I couldn't tell were green or bluish. Anyway, we were doing it until it happened. One of them came out, and then another, and everyone on the set began to panic. One of the crew even took out a fire ax and lopped one of them off. That...really hurt," he said, shaking his head. "Interesting part was, it healed really fast...I'm not weirding you out, am I?" He suddenly paused to query her response.
 
Amazingly enough, she found herself wanting to believe him after he told her he wasn't kidding. Something about the way he was fidgeting didn't seem to put off insincerity. So she nodded and let him put his arm around her, pulling her closer again. It dawned on her that she'd become more comfortable with the physical contact they seemed to be making more and more often. More surprising than that was that she was more comfortable with the possessiveness she felt when he held her--like she was his to protect. It was that quality, she decided, that made her feel safe when she was around him. Maybe the tentacle thing threatened that feeling of security, but she just couldn't imagine it. Still, now as she watched his face, she was sure he was being honest with her.

She rested her head against his and put her arm around him, hanging onto his shoulder as he rubbed it. She listened and rubbed his shoulder in return, finding it hard to imagine the set, but still somehow believable. The part about her looking like a porn actress gave her a strange feeling of pride mixed with outrage, but she let it go quickly. "Well, I'm glad you're telling me this," she said. "I probably would have panicked too if I'd just found out somehow on my own." The bit about the fire ax made her wince a little but she pulled her head a little bit away from his for a minute so they could look at each other.

"Keith, you've been weirding me out since the first day you started being nice to me again. Of course this is weird. This is the stuff of horror movies and doujin comics. It's not supposed to happen in real life...but I don't know. I can't say I feel any differently about you now that I know. After all, you're still the same person...just with a little bit of a twist now."
 
He could have shown her, this very moment, if that had been okay with her. He'd undo his fat belt buckle and simply slide down his pants and undergarment to reveal himself, but then the problem would remain of how he could get them out. They didn't just spring forth on command...Keith knew that it took time, and it had something to do with her somehow--or thinking about her to be exact. That's how it happened the first time, and it was also how he learned how to control it. It was no coincidence that he only worked with redheads which bore some kind of resemblance to her. Still, he wasn't ready. Sophie was a tender part of him; she had always been that way for him. He wasn't going let her see this insidious side of him without having kissed her first. It just didn't seem right to jump to home base when he hadn't even stepped to first. Although he wasn't quite sure what place his slimy secret stood on home base...

He had to change the subject somehow. This was obviously going to have to wait until later. It relieved him to no end when she said that she didn't feel any different about him, seeing him as the same person but with an added twist. He just looked at her as he heard that, slowly letting a smile crease its way into his lips. "You, you think so?" He asked. "I know it might have been a lot for you to take in at once, but I'm really glad you're all right with that. At least for the most part."

He then continued to sit quietly with her on the comfy couch, embracing the silence as though they were old lovers, understanding and wary of each others foibles. He felt at her arm again, petting at it. No matter how distant she could get or how much concern she'd dish out at him, he'll always feel the same way about her. It'd always balance on that line between love and hate.
 
She smiled and messed up his emo hair, looking into his eyes again. "Well, it's hard not to be when you said you'd stay with me because some weirdo is stalking me." Sophie was teasing him a little, but she really couldn't imagine him being any different than he had been. "Besides, I've gotten used to you. I like having you around too much to just leave you to your own devices now." Sophie grinned and then snuggled back into his side, just sitting there for a few minutes.

It was nice to let someone hold her like this. His arm was petting hers again. She thought it was a sweet gesture. After a few more moments of this, Sophie pulled away and kissed his cheek. "Well, we should probably get to studying," she said, slowly and reluctantly pulling away from him to get her bag and her study materials. She sat down on the floor on the other side of the coffee table and smiled at him. "So, what would you like to cover first?"
 
He let her brush her fingers through his hair, shaking it and causing all that disarray. He later straightened it with a few swipes from his chin. The thought of knowing she liked his company too much to leave him be, brought out another bout of warmth from him. He lay his head against her again, savoring the shared comfort they were having, while enjoying how soft she felt against him. "I like having you around with me as well. It just makes life that much more bearable."

When she kissed him on the cheek, he smiled again. Just a few days ago, he would have felt light headed from such a gesture, but now, as he was getting used to it, it was a relief to be aware that he was now more in control of his body around her. He nodded to her when she brought up their studies. It was Friday afternoon for sure, but that never seemed to deter Sophie's work ethic. "Yeah, you're right," he said. "I want to enjoy some dinner after this. How about we cook something here once we're done. Unless you have a better idea." He then conjured a heavy math book from his bag. On the cover, it read: "College Mathematics". Keith didn't do too well on his math placement exam, so they threw him into a remedial math course. The book was easy to get. It was actually an overdue copy from the library. "Want to help me with my math homework?"
 
"Sure, we can make something here. I think I have some hamburger out if we want to decide what to do with it. There's the classic option of burgers, or we could do tacos, or any number of crazy things." She smiled at the idea of them working together again. "I picked last time, so you can choose what we do this time." And then came the crazy big math book.

"I can try," she said with a chuckle. Sophie had done pretty well in math, but only well enough to keep up a decent GPA. There was no reason for her to try harder at it than getting a B. She hated the subject pretty thoroughly, but was good with the basic building blocks. That much, she could help him with. That said she held up a finger and went to her desk to pull out the last bit of math notes she'd taken on that level. They were every bit as neat and methodical as her other notes--but unlike a textbook, hers had little doodles of faces and explanations that people could actually understand. She smiled and set them next to him as she grabbed her own things and spread them out next to him.

"Just ask me when you need help." And it occurred to her that that had been her general approach to Keith this whole time. She'd pretty much just told him to ask, but he only ever responded that way when she offered her help. She wondered how much of his life had been him fighting for himself with no one to help him. Sure, he was a promising young porn star, and he had the side business of stealing cars (which she'd become aware of after bailing him out), but how far had he come alone before he made it to where he was.

Keith was a mystery to her...one that she felt deserved her attention. But more than that, he was someone she was beginning to rely on. She cared about him deeply and worried when he didn't show up to class or when she saw him getting roughed up--even before he'd started to be nice to her she'd cared a little. But now...now it was different somehow. He was important. Too important to lose him over something small and petty like someone's attempt to split them apart. Too important to lose because she was afraid, even a little. So she was going to work hard to help him and protect him in her own way. And maybe, along the way, she could heal some of the pain she'd caused him.
 
"Hamburgers!" Keith said. "The cornerstone of every nutritious breakfast!" He finished, quoting Pulp Fiction, even though it was well into the afternoon to be having hamburgers for breakfast. "I would love some tasty burgers," he said, smiling. Suddenly, he delved into a fantasy where he was standing behind her, arms wrapped around her waist, chopping vegetables, taking out fluffy buns, feeling the top of her hands...

The subject of math interrupted him. "You can try?" He asked. "Why, I thought that being a member of the Career Center Club, this shit would be a breeze." After looking at her notes for a bit, he chuckled seeing her little cartoon characters. One of them had these big, googly eyes with a large text bubble explaining how to figure out annual compound interest. "You made this yourself?" He asked, seeing another doodle which reminded him of the Microsoft Word paperclip that appeared whenever you needed help with something. He noticed she was sitting next to him again and he smiled at her.

He started working on his homework. Surprisingly enough, he was actually caught up with this class. It may have had something to do with the teacher being very, very slow in advancing through the book, considering that they were still on the same chapter they began the semester on, or that it was such an easy, elementary class, that Keith had no trouble keeping up. But still, he didn't like math too much, since it was too emotionless and cold. He liked art better, even though he'd doze off in Professor Layton's class.

After a while of doing dry math problems, he began to lose his patience. "I don't get this word problem," he said, reading to her this financial word problem that totally didn't make any sense when read. Perhaps he could solve it himself if he read it more carefully, but he wanted to ask Sophie because he simply felt like bugging her so he could hear her voice explain things to him. Hell, even sitting here next to her like this as he'd watch her looking so engrossed studying her notes, he thought she looked so beautiful sitting there concerned about studying on a Friday afternoon as the sun shone through the blinds, making her red hair glow in the sunlight.
 
She chuckled, only barely catching the reference. "I've never actually seen that movie in its entirety. I guess I'll have to now," she said, with a smile. Lucky for him, Sophie couldn't see his little fantasy. Though it would have been a pleasing enough picture in her mind, things would have been moving a bit too quickly for Sophie's taste. Still...a fantasy is just a fantasy. Which is why she didn't so much as blush when she thought of something similar.

With a little smile, she nodded when he asked her about the notes and cartoon characters. "Yeah, I did. I wanted the notes I made to make sense. And part of my reason for making the little cartoons was to help me keep aware and understand what was going on. Plus, they really were amusing at the time." That said, Sophie started reading for another one of her classes and leaned against her sofa, barely touching him as they sat together. Still, she was close enough if he wanted her opinion on something.

Just when she'd finished her reading assignment, she heard his agitated voice. She closed the book, now finished, and leaned over him to look at the problem in question. Her hair seemed as though it were made of light and fire as she sat in the sun and looked over his work. Up until this point, he'd been doing quite well. But it was always the word problems that got to people. "Hmm, this one is a little tricky," she said with a frown. "But see how they say this?" she asked, underlining a word with her pencil. "They want you to use this formula to find it," she said, pointing to her notes, where a very stoic looking cartoon professor pointed at the numbers and letters in question. "That word is usually a pretty big tip off once you get used to reading these," she said, leaning against him just a little. "Think you can take it from here?"
 
He nodded after he saw her underline the word, focusing more on her hand than what she wrote, yet throwing his eyes back on the problem to try to focus. "Yeah, I think I can handle it from here." He picked up his pencil and immediately worked out the problem, doing it as she said he would. After about fifteen minutes of number crunching and constructing a column down his paper of equal signs and numbers, he finally arrived at the answer on his calculator, which was a shiny TI-83, which was a little too advanced for this remedial math course. He happily jotted his answer down and then flipped to the back of the book to check his answer. It was wrong.

Frowning, he shook Sophie's shoulder. "Hey, I think you were wrong," he said.

And then suddenly, Keith found himself in his fifth grade class. Mr. Lark was the teacher at the time, and while he was an excellent P.E. instructor, he was a horrible math teacher. His tests were impossible, and whenever he talked about math, it was consisted of a couple examples on the board, and then it was back to playing kickball in the field. Sophie was seated on his left side, and even she would have trouble keeping up with Mr. Lark's explanations on the board.

"What did you get for the problem?" Sophie asked, leaning over from her desk to look. She pulled some of her red hair back behind her ears as she did so. It made her look so cute.

"I got 146," he replied, not even caring about whether the answer was simplified or not. Even back then, he couldn't give two shits.

She frowned at him as she the looked at his answer. "That's wrong," she said, going back to her paper. "They want you to use this formula to find it. That word is usually a pretty big tip off once you get used to reading these. And it's negative, not positive."

"No it's not, if you look at it here, it's positive after you square it."

"No it isn't," she replied. "You're wrong."

"I'm sure it's right, look there. It's supposed to be positive."

"No, it is not," she said again, widening those gray eyes.

Before he could respond, Mr. Lark was already beginning to talk again, his eyes scanning the classroom to call on students. Everyone straightened up and focused their attention on him. Mr. Lark's eyes caught Keith. "Keith. Why don't you go up to the board and try to solve this problem."

Keith nodded, getting out of his seat. The class was silent as he made his way up to the board, watching that dreaded problem growing in size as he approached it. The chalk smeared over his fingers as he picked it up. He was fairly sure of himself that the question was right. Besides, he was the son of a fighter pilot, and they were destined to be excellent at math. That's what his dad had told him. The answer was 146. And it would be right.

Mr. Lark shook his head at him. "No, that's, that's not right. It's supposed to be negative, not positive in the formula. Keith, please sit down." Mr. Lark then turned to the class, inquiring the rest of the students. By that time, Keith could feel his heart racing in his chest as his face felt incredibly hot. It was a long walk back to his desk, and he could feel himself wanting to keel over with embarrassment since he had been supposedly so good at math until that very moment. He sat down quietly, a humble look on his face as he looked down. He then looked over at Sophie.

She was already asking the other kids seated next to her, paying no attention to him whatsoever. When she was focused, she really was relentless on getting the answer.

Taking deep breaths, Keith looked down with wide eyes and saw his college homework. Sweat accumulated over his forehead, rolling down the side of his face. His sweat-drenched hands abruptly clawed into his bag, rummaging through it until he pulled out what seemed like a tiny plastic bag full of white flour. In his other hand was a razor blade sheathed in cardboard.

"I need a little pick me up," he said, panting. He dabbled the bag's contents over Sophie's table before unsheathing the blade out to tap away a thin, white line of coke, scraping some aside. He then bent his head down, pressing one nostril, and snorted the entire line, throwing his head back. He snorted, sniffing at the air as wiggled his nose and rubbed it with his finger.
 
She had already gone back to her reading when he looked up at her and told her she was wrong. Frowning, she looked at his work, looking for some kind of mistake. When she went to see what the real answer was, she noticed he'd gone stiff, suddenly distant. As she studied him, real concern began to brew. His eyes weren't focused and his breathing started to get heavier--ending with him panting and sweating. "Keith?" she frowned leaning in and reaching up to see if he has a fever.

And then he shocked the hell out of her. As he brought out what she assumed was coke she felt as though she had an out of body experience while he dumped the drugs on the table she'd inherited from her grandmother and use a razor to create a line. By the time he was done snorting it, she was at her door, yanking it open and stepping outside. She was panting too, needing air. What had she just witnessed? She frowned. She could accept a lot of things about Keith, but this struck a cord with her that she wasn't sure would remain in tact.

Not only had he done something she never expected from him, but he'd done something very illegal and actually a bit frightening without giving her a second thought--let alone his surroundings. Her heart was beating faster and she wasn't sure what was happening. The world seemed far too bright all of the sudden. And then she saw someone heading toward her, rather quickly. She reached for her door handle, missing it once and then a second time as they kept running at her. She screamed.
 
Sophie was already out the door by the time the high kicked in. Keith felt the nasal drip in his throat; it was a bitter taste, sort of like chewing a tablet of Tylenol, and then he felt the rush. Where he was feeling drowsy and irritated, it was instantly obliterated and replaced with a feeling that he was on top of the world, and the world was his oyster. He could look up in the sky and see that blimp that read, "The world is yours."

"Sophie," he said, rushing to his feet. "Wait up. I'm sorry, I can explain."

And just then, he heard the scream. His eyes bugged out. Holy fucking shit. What the hell was going on, he had to do something--anything! His eyes frantically darted about and seized the razor blade. He then turned and sped to the door, his heart rate jacked to a machine gunning roar. Speaking of machine guns, he wanted to tear up whoever was behind that door making her scream. What the fuck was up with that. He wanted to take his razor and cut a clean cut across that fucker's face.

"Sophie!" he screamed. This was so not happening. He wanted to fuck some shit up. Fuck some shit up real good.

He kicked open the door and ran outside. He threw his head about, looking around. His eyes were delirious!
 
By the time he was outside, Sophie was punching the back of some guy who looked like a line-backer. He had tossed her over her shoulder like a Raggedy Ann doll and started to run again. "Put me down, damn it!" She heard her door open and screamed for Keith. She saw him looking around, but she was nearly rounding the corner of the building. The bastard holding her was still listening to his fucking Ipod. If she ever got out of this she was going to buy one just to break it. "Son of bitch!" she then winced and drove her elbow into the back of his head.

That caused him to stumble a bit. She fell to the ground, the air knocked out of her and he growled, looking down at her. She slowly started to crawl back toward her building only to be grabbed around the waist and when she got her breath back she screamed again. "Keith! Help!"
 
Where. The. Hell. Was. She. Keith spun his head around. His shoulders followed, barely keeping up with each turn of his neck. He broke off in a sprint towards the sound of her scream. "Sophie!"

His heart thudded in his chest as he panted. He saw a brief glimpse of her head disappear around the corner. It was high off the ground! That meant, someone had her over their shoulder! He broke around the corner, rushing towards the stairs. The sight of the stairway was just ahead of him, shaking in his eyes as he ran. With long, furious strides in his socks, he leaped off the top of the stairs, landing on the ground with a bent knee, his long hair thrown forward.

When he looked up, there she was. And holy shit was that dude big. Keith tightened the fist with his razor in it. "Hey!" he yelled, marching up towards him from the rear. The linebacker was already making his way towards a van, which was parked several yards away. The linebacker didn't respond to him. "I'm talking to you!" Keith screamed, picking up his pace.

The man continued onward, like a machine. Keith noticed the small, white cord trailing from his ears. iPod buds? What the fuck?

Realizing the large man wasn't going to listen, Keith decided to speak with him...using the bottom of his heel. He charged after him, picking up speed until his socks were nearly sliding off his feet. He then swung back his arms, and catapulted himself up, raising his legs in the air and dropkicked him. He aimed at the small of that fucker's back.
 
Holy shit. Holy shit! "Holy shit!"

She shook and struggled against the big guy, obviously terrified now that she could look back and see the van he was carrying her to. This was how people disappeared forever. And then there was Keith, rushing at them. She managed to position herself so that she was pretty much standing up but he was lifting her. "Keith!" And then he drop kicked the bastard right in the back. He growled and let out a noise that said pain.

"The fuck?!" his baritone called out. Finally, he took his earphones out and spun around, looking for his assailant. He spotted Keith and locked on, glaring. "Who the fuck are you?"

Sophia was deposited rather unceremoniously onto the ground as he fell forward. And loosened his grip on her. The adrenaline in her body immediately called her to action and she scrambled to her feet running in the opposite direction he had been carrying her. Her body launched itself toward Keith as she fled in terror. She was at his side in mere moments, shaking and still willing to run at the drop of a hat. "Oh my God..." She panted and watched as the guy who'd come for her took a few steps forward. "Oh God... Okay, now would be a fantastic time to run away because he is HUGE."
 
"I'm the pain in your backside!" Keith yelled at the brute, scrambling to his feet. He had thrown his entire body at him with that kick, and it had left him on the ground as a result. By the time he felt Sophie's arms rushing to his side, he was already up, facing the large man with a tree trunk for a neck.

"Are you okay," Keith asked Sophie. His eyes remained on their assailant as he spoke.

Just then, the doors to the van opened and five figures emerged, four of which were wearing black ski masks. The fifth one's face was mummified in an entire roll's worth of bloodied gauze. "Well if it ain't Keith!" The bandage-faced leader of the group called out.

"Jeff?" Keith's eyes widened.

Jeff chuckled. "You might be wondering about something. Why would big Jeff go through so much trouble for your girlfriend. Well, here's my answer, you fucking dipshit. It ain't about your pretty, little ladyfriend anymore. It's about you, Keith. You see, I don't like it when people get in my fucking way whenever I want something, and you're one of those people. Some say that I'm just a sociopath who'll stop at nothing for power. Well, the way I see it, they're all wrong. I like to see myself as more of a man with ambition."

"A real man wouldn't string along five others to fight one!" A haggard, feminine voice cried out. "To fight one and a pin-up model, to boot!"

Jeff frowned, looking up in the direction behind where Keith was standing. "Stay out out of his, grandma."

Keith turned around, glancing behind him.

"Grandma," the old woman said, cackling. "I just called the police, so go ahead and yap that mouth of yours, since the station's close," she continued, slowly hobbling her way down the stairs with a steel cane. "So keep talking. I'm interested to learn about what you have to say about ambition." She then chuckled again.

"A friend of yours?" Keith asked, slightly grinning in Sophie's direction.
 
"I'm fine, but.."

Sophie practically keeled over when she saw the five guys slip out of the van. What the hell was this, some kind of a gang-fighter flick? Her heart practically stopped beating as she saw the leader step out of the van. The bandages on his face meant that it could really only be one person. She heard Keith say his name before she could rasp it out. Immediately her body began to tell her to run away. He started to spout some ridiculous macho crap about being a "sociopath" who was power crazed, but really was just ambitious. What a smarmy little prick.

And since when was she an item to be fought over? Outrage began to take the place of fear, though fear was still very much present. It dawned on her very suddenly that since this was no longer just about her and Jeff, that if she had been captured just now, it wouldn't have mattered to them what happened to her after she was in their grasp. The bastard had probably just been pulling the giant's strings to prove a point. Now she was full on pissed. But she wasn't dumb enough to go charging into obvious danger.

She stayed safely behind Keith, standing back just a little bit to keep from getting in his way, but she didn't like how things were looking. And then she heard the voice of her neighbor, Annie Macalister. The woman must have had nerves of steel. Relief swept through Sophie as she heard that the police were on their way. The clear and very palpable advantage of living with older people was that they called the police when they heard shit going down. Thank. God. And suddenly, she didn't object to being called a pin up model.

Despite the fact that she was sure it was rather disgusting beneath those bandages, the redhead would have paid money to see Jeff's face. She looked up at the woman with an expression that could only be read as "Thank you" and then back at Keith. She smiled and shrugged. "We are now." They were, in fact, friends, but Sophie never expected for something like this to happen. Her grey eyes locked onto Jeff in a rather withering stare just as police sirens were heard.
 
Even though his face was covered in white bandages--almost like how you'd expect someone to look like after they went under the knife for heavy cosmetic surgery, you could see the panic in Jeff's face. Sirens blared around them as a couple of squad cars rolled in and blocked the van. All of Jeff's goons made an attempt to scramble, before realizing how futile it was since they were trapped.

"I'm not through with you yet, you cocksucker!" Jeff cried out at Keith, throwing his arms up over his head as a cop pushed him against the side of van, frisking him. "Once I get out, I'm going to show you that it isn't smart getting in my way."

"Quiet down, or I'll remove those bandages with my baton," the officer said.

Jeff went silent after that, glaring at Keith with sadistic eyes.

Keith just smiled at him, still high from the cocaine earlier. He felt like running up to him and kicking him in the balls because that would be funny, but instead, it was satisfying enough watching him getting roughed up by a police officer.

Annie smiled at Keith and Sophie, her eyes narrowing into a squint as she wistfully creased her lips. "I'll take care of the report, while you two go inside and make out," she crooned, examining Keith and raising a brow. "Back in my day, I would have happily picked you off and ran," she said. "But after I'd tell you to lose the makeup and the bright colors. Men in my day looked quite dashing because they looked like men." She then looked over at Sophie. "Sophie, my dear, it looks like you've got quite a catch."

Keith just blinked at her, feeling a little more self conscious, but the comment later rolled right off him. He turned and looked at Sophie, suddenly leaping out of protective mode and rushed to check her if she was okay. "Sophie, oh am I so glad you're all right!" he said, feeling her shoulders, taking her hand to squeeze at it, before getting down on a bended knee to check her legs, massaging her bruises. He then stood up again, throwing his arms around her, kissing her on the cheek. "I don't what I would do to forgive myself if I ever lost you," he said, stroking her hair. "I'm so sorry about everything, I just...can we talk about it inside?"

He wanted to coax her. He wanted to mend whatever pain he had caused, because Sophie was just too important to him to let something like that spoil what he cherished most out of life, and it was her.
 
It was oddly satisfying to watch Jeff make empty threats. As long as he was behind bars his ambition would be on hold, and his powers and outside influence would be very limited. When Annie started talking again, Sophie laughed and gave the woman a grateful hug as she passed. "Thanks Annie. If you ever need anything just call."

Her comments about Keith were enough to make her laugh--even the bit about them making out. Though at this point, maybe ruling it out wouldn't be a good idea. Annie did have a point: Keith was a catch. A very interesting catch. Still, he wasn't without his faults, she reminded herself. But all of the inner speculation melted away as he rushed over to see if she was hurt.

Before she knew it she was back in his arms, his lips on her cheek. She looked up at him as he asked her to talk about everything inside and nodded. She could tell that even after this whole attempted kidnapping mess, he was sorry about before too. "Yeah. Let's go back inside," she said giving him a little squeeze of a hug.

Sophie was a little shaky on her legs, the adrenaline still quite present as she headed back with him, but slowly, she was able to calm herself down. Once they were back inside she locked the door again and took a deep breath. "Thank you," she said, looking up at him with a little smile. "I'm not sure what I would have done without you." She threw her arms around him this time and kissed his cheek. "You have no idea how scary that is..."
 
He held her close to him, not wanting to let her go. "I was scared too! For a moment back there, I was afraid I wouldn't see you again, and no matter how hard I'd try, I wouldn't be able to find you again." He then let her go so he could look into her eyes. He brought a hand up to stroke her hair. "I'm so sorry, Sophie. I really am. I just began thinking about the past, and about why I hate math so much, and I began to panic a little. So that's why I pulled out the drugs. I'll go clean it up if you want to. I'm just a mess. I'm so sorry."

Keith then turned away from her, bringing his hands up to his hips, before rushing over to the coffee table to gather up the coke to put it away.
 
Sophie hugged him tightly as he held her there and reluctantly let him go when he pulled away from her. She listened to his worrying over her and wondered exactly how much pain he would have gone through if those whack jobs had actually succeeded. The fact that he might really have been crushed and crazy touched her, and she wanted badly to make sure the visions she'd just had of him having a breakdown never came to be.

"Keith..." He was already cleaning up the drugs from her table. "It's..." Well, it wasn't alright. To be honest. That was a huge intrusion and it dangerous and...she couldn't bring herself to lecture him when he was already so miserable. Instead, she walked to him and took hold of his arm. She pulled him close to her again and continued to hold him. "Just promise me that if you have to do that stuff, you won't do it around me, okay? I hate seeing you do something I know is dangerous, so don't, okay?" She looked up at him and then buried her face into his chest. "Let's just forget about it for now, okay? Let's focus on the fact that we're both safe again for now. We can talk about it again another time."

For now, she just wanted someone to hold her and let her get her bearings back before anything else happened to either of them. As she stood there with him, she tried not to imagine what it would have been like if he hadn't been there for her or cared what happened to her. She tried not to imagine what it might have been like for him if he'd failed to save her again or how much she would have missed him and wished that she hadn't run away if Jeff really had succeeded.
 
He wished he could hear that voice repeat in his head, over and over again. It would have cleared up so much of that pain he had felt when his parents split, and when he had nobody to turn to when it occurred. It would definitely had helped when he felt that emptiness over the years after moving away, when the long walks from school were nothing more than a distant memory he'd wake up in the middle of the night yearning for, yet had nobody to address them to. She said 'okay' so much, that he wanted to kiss her for the excess energy she was cramming into her words, causing all of those 'okay's' to emerge.

In fact, he did. He rushed over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. This time, he left a soft kiss on her lips. It was a simple graze of his lips, but he meant it, without meaning to go any further, as tender as it was. He held her in his arms for that moment, and then pulled her closer, hugging her, embracing the worry from out of her. "I promise, Sophie," he replied. He didn't like cocaine that much anyway, much preferring marijuana in its place, but it helped whenever he as stressed as he was before.

He then drew out a long breath. "Yeah, that'll be good. I like just being here with you, holding you like this. Helping you feel safe. I just want you to be okay, Sophie, because I care about you a lot, and I don't know what I'd do without you at this point." He continued to hold her in the silence of her apartment, barely even comprehending the fact that they had been through that together.
 
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