God pls work-–

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They stayed there in comfortable silence for around ten minutes, neither of them sharing a word or making a move. They just stayed in each other's embraces, basking in in the peace and quiet.

At some point Cross fell asleep, his breathing soft and gentle against Nightmare's chest. The taller rubbed mindless patterns on his back, content with the feeling of Cross' soul beating healthily against his own.

Despite being asleep, he could see the changes the medicine was making already. His cheeks were no longer flushed, and this time when he wiped the sweat off of his forehead, it didn't instantly return. His body was trembling less and less, all the shakes and shivers subsiding as the miracle medicine did its work.

He glanced out of the cave entrance as the Hunger Games anthem played, staring at the sky as it did the same it did every night.

The fallen:
Geno from District Two
Killer from District Five
Finn from District Ten

So it was Finn's death that caused him so much panic. He assumed that later he'd be seeing Dust's name up there as well.

"Five Tributes left, you hear that Cross?" He said softly, tracing his finger down the bumps in Cross' neck. Of course the smaller didn't respond, but he hadn't expected him too. "Three to kill Cross, that's all. Just three."

This time the smaller shifted, not properly responding but digging his face further into his chest and muttering incoherent mumbly nonsense that made Nightmare smile fondly.

"Yeah, me too Cross. Me too." He snickered softly to himself and wrapped all four of his tentacles around the smaller, not wanting him to get cold in the night's breeze.

He stayed awake for a while longer before he found himself slowly nodding off, his head bobbing. He'd have liked to stay awake and keep an eye on Cross and check the fever didn't take any nasty turns. But he fell asleep helplessly, his grip on his partner only loosening the slightest.

——————

Day ten of being in the arena started off with a thunderstorm. Claps and rolls of thunder growled from the sky and forks of lightning flashed down, stabbing down at the ground and illuminating the sky in flashes of brilliant light. Rain came down in torrents, turning the river outside into a snarling beast with rapids and spray. The leaves on trees were torn at mercilessly by the howling wind, ripping them off of the branches and sending them spiralling off into the sky.

Nightmare stared dully at the cave entrance, watching as the vines covering it were battered in every direction, water trickling down the rocks like a scraggly waterfall. Here in the cave they were sheltered from the gale force winds, but he could assume that the other tributes weren't as fortunate and were currently being battered to death by the wind and rain. Or being struck by lightning, that would be helpful.

Cross was still deeply asleep, his small body slumped on Nightmare's lap and face pressed into the crook of his neck. Every time he breathed it send shivers down Nightmare's spine, his hot breath tickling him feeling undeniably good.

He hadn't been awake long, maybe ten minutes, if even that. He would have moved about and somehow been productive in their little cave, but he didn't really want to wake Cross. He wanted to give the medicine as long as time as possible to kick in and destroy the fever that had been plaguing his body.

But when an exceptionally loud crash of thunder rang out the smaller went stiff, his eyes shooting open and looking around blearily. "Wh-Wha--"

He froze as he felt a pair of hands gently grip onto his hips, craning his neck back to see who'd grabbed him. Upon seeing Nightmare, his face involuntary started heating up softly. "O-Oh, it's you."

"Wow, don't sound so disappointed." The teen rolled his eye, rubbing soft circles on Cross' hips. He blushed slightly darker at that, trying to swat his hands away.

Nightmare snickered at the sight, only squeezing his hips tighter. "Is there a problem?"

A gasp left Cross' mouth and he slapped his hands, causing the taller to yelp and pull them back. "D-Don't touch me like that!"

"Ow- Yikes sorry--" He put his hands back on the smaller's body, but only this time on his shoulders. Cross shot him a withering look, but didn't push them off again.

"How are you feeling, anyway?" He asked, pressing his thumbs into his shoulder blades and rubbing small yet firm circles on them.

The oreo couldn't help shivering, a purr forming at the back of his throat. "Much better..." He mumbled, sinking back into Nightmare's chest.

"Good." He slipped his fingers under Cross' scarf and through the fabric of his shirt. They dug into his shoulders, massaging them nicely. The smaller practically melted into his embrace, low purrs and hums of appreciation leaving his mouth as Nightmare kneaded his shoulders.

"Mh! Th-That's...! Mhaa..." He leaned desperately into Nightmare's touch, shuddering purrs getting louder.

He looked down at him fondly before pulling his hands out, not wanting to go too far. Cross trembled against him, panting softly and eyes falling shut. "Mm... Nightmare?"

"Yeah?" He stroked the top of his skull, humming.

"How many died? At the announcement thing." He pressed his fingers into Nightmare's hoodie, tracing along the line of his sternum.

"Two. And then one died later on. So I might as well have just said three." He smiled softly.

"Who?" He asked, glancing up at him.

"Geno, Killer and Finn." He brushed a speck of dirt off of Cross' face, smirking a bit as that small action caused his face to burn up lavender.

"Who killed them?" He looked away, his pupils focusing on Nightmare's knee instead of his smug face.

"Dust killed Geno, I killed Killer, and I don't know how Finn died."

"So there's what, five of us left?" He frowned, picking bits of grass off his scarf.

"Yeah. That's right." He perked up suddenly as a sound rang out over the thunder and wind. It was a soft chiming sound, getting closer and closer.

"We've got a gift." He said, pushing Cross off of him gently and stumbling to his feet with a groan. His legs felt stiff and locked up from being sat in that position for so long, aching like hell.

Peering out the cave entrance, he saw the parachute attached pot thunk to the over saturated land. It was at least ten metres away from the cave entrance, so he couldn't just do the good ol' trick of sticking out a tentacle and grabbing it.

"Christ's sake Horror you couldn't have made them drop it like a few metres to the right, could you?" He grumbled, snatching the raincoat from where it had been left abandoned and scrunched up on the floor.

"You're going out there?" Cross asked, standing as well by his side.

"Well yeah, I kind of have to. I mean, I don't have a clue what they could send us that we really need right now, but we can't just ignore it." He grunted, flicking the hood over his head and pulling the sleeves right down so that they covered his exposed fingertips.

He flashed the smaller a quick grin, pulling himself up onto the ledge of the entrance. "Watch me get soaked to the bone in less than five seconds."

Cross went to call something out to him, but he already dashed outside into all the thunder and rain. He bit his 'lip', staring intently at the cave entrance and waiting for Nightmare to stumble back in.

Five seconds passed. Ten seconds passed.

At twenty seconds, Cross stepped closer to the cave entrance in concern, not sure why it was taking him so long to grab whatever their sponsors had sent them. He peered out over the ledge just as as Nightmare slipped in, the two of them both shrieking in surprise as they collided and went crashing to the floor.

Nightmare grunted and collided squarely with Cross' body, forcing him down to the floor and doing another repeat of their cave moment from the other day.

Beneath him Cross' face was dark purple, flustered apologies and excuses streaming from his mouth. "O-Oh! I'm sorry I--"

"Cross no- it's fine--" He quickly got off of him, not wanting to do a repeat of the awkward moment they'd had before. He helped Cross to his feet right after, the two of them both pretending that they were oblivious to each other's blushes.

"I- um, what's in the pot?" Cross asked, pushing his scarf up over his face shyly.

"I dunno." Nightmare slumped down to the cave floor, a brow raising as he noticed the rain splattered piece of paper resting on top of the metal lid. It had some writing on, the majority of it having gone blotchy thanks to the rain, the ink having bled into the paper. But he could just about read Horror's scrawled writing.

Perhaps another kiss? -H-

He crumpled that note without even a thought, scrunching his nose. How about no?

"What did it say?" Cross asked, scooting over next to him and glancing at the crumpled note.

"Nothing." He muttered, tossing it to the other side of the cave floor. Cross followed it with his eyes, blinking. "Nothing?"

"Nothing important." He grunted, popping the lid of the box open and blinking in surprise. "Soup."

"Hm?"

"They sent us soup." His expression went sour. "And one spoon." Very funny Horror. Very fucking funny. He could practically picture the fat lump's grinning face there and then as if he was stood right in front of them.

Cross blushed softly, staring at the small metal spoon Nightmare held in his thin fingers. "Um, w-we can just share, that'd be fine, wouldn't it?"

Nightmare internally groaned but nodded, stirring the soup mindlessly with his spoon. He pulled it up and stared at the beige coloured thick liquid before giving his most charming smile to Cross. "Do you want to offer to try it first and check for any poison?"

He looked at him, his expression withering.

"I'm joking, I'm joking." He huffed loudly and pushed the spoon into his own mouth, letting the scalding liquid slide down his throat slickly.

Cross stared expectantly, raising a brow as Nightmare pulled a face. "...Well?"

"Mushroom." He stuck his tongue out. "I hate mushroom."

"Of course you do." Cross muttered, rolling his eyes and indicating for the spoon. To his surprise Nightmare denied, taking another scoop of the soup. "I thought you said you didn't like it--"

"I don't." He grinned, thinking of a way Horror could get his romance without having to force the smol into another painfully awkward kiss. "This is for you."

Cross gave him a confused look and reached for the spoon, which only increased by tenfold as Nightmare didn't let him have it. "Um- I actually need the spoon to eat, Nightmare."

"No you don't. I'll feed you."

The oreo blinked softly and squeaked, shaking his head quickly. "Y-You can't feed me!"

"Why not?" He looked at him, attempting to look sad and disappointed. Cross fumbled with his scarf, his blush darkening - something they were both used to now - and hiding his face. "W-Well I..."

"Well?" He pressed, his grin only getting wider.

"W-Wouldn't that be weird...?"

"Nope." He held the spoon of steaming soup up to his face. "Now hurry up, let's eat."

Cross stared at the spoon for a good few seconds before hesitantly tugging his scarf down and opening his mouth, hot with embarrassment.

Nightmare snickered and pushed the spoon into his mouth, tipping it back and pulling it out empty with the same shit-eating grin. The smaller looked away quickly, swallowing and shivering. "I think it's nice..."

"That's why I'm feeding you the rest of it."

"N-Nightmare I really don't need you to mMMF--" The smol was cut off as Nightmare shoved the spoon into his open mouth, more mushroom soup sliding down his throat.

"Nightmare!" He gasped, covering his face with his scarf once more and staring. "I-I don't need you to feed me!"

"You're weak and crippled from that fever, c'mon." He curled his tentacles around his waist and plopped the smaller onto his lap.

"I am not!" He groaned, tipping his head back as the octopus poked his mouth with the spoon once more.

"Shh, you're delusional." He soothed, rubbing his shoulders softly.

Eventually Cross gave in, begrudgingly letting him feed him the entire contents of the soup pot with little arguments. Once it was empty he flopped against the taller's chest, muttering about how much of an idiot he was with Nightmare agreeing in the background.

Once finished, Nightmare cast the pot and spoon to the side, pressing his chin on the top of Cross' skull despite his flustered protests.

"I hate you..." Cross grumbled, pushing Nightmare's face away and looking up at him.

"I know." He smirked down at him, their foreheads only centimetres away from touching.

He didn't know if it was the close proximity of the two of them, or the general atmosphere that gave him the fucked up idea to kiss him. He just looked so cute at the moment, his exhausted expression pleasing him.

Cross gulped softly, staring intently into his eye and feeling his soul doing summersaults in his chest. He didn't know why, but every time he looked at him like that, his whole body seemed to forget how to function and turn to jelly.

Neither of them really planned on kissing, but it happened. Nightmare leaned down and connected their mouths, not pulling back straight away after. And this time, Cross kissed back.

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2,395 wordsssss I think that's the longest one so far lmao

uwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwu I liked writing this chapter a l o t

Fl00fy Crossmare to make up for sad chapters sixhdikeduusieududieisud

I was gonna do the whole berry thing today but I got hella carried away with their cute moment lmao

And I dunno but I kind of like Cross in this 'dOnT tOuCh Me' denial stage while really being hopelessly all over him ahahaha-–

See what Epic and the others think about all this next chapter >:3

-Jess-