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Ezekiel wacked Demi's arm as Nancy rushed out of the infirmary. [color=#EEE8AA]”Honestly, Do, you couldn't have waited until have she left to say all that.”[/color] Zeke took the bandages from Demetri and set them aside. He would probably reboil them just to be on the safe side. Of course, they would be fine to go in a field kit as well.

Demi looked away as the bandages were taken out of his hands. Reaching for a tiny nearby and tossing it between his hands. [Color=6666FF]”She's bound to hear it eventually. Especially if we can keep up this friendly truce. Why? You embarrassed to be cat called by your own boyfriend now?”[/color]

[color=#EEE8AA]”In front of my sister who experienced horrendous trauma and probably heard some of these pick up lines? Ya, ya I am,”[/color] Zeke said. However, he walked back over to Demetri and rested his hands on Demi's hips. 

[color=#EEE8AA]”But more to the point of this conversation. What you said earlier, when you and Nancy were fighting… I'm not trying to prioritize her over you, Demi. I'm not picking her over you or you over her. You're important to me.”[/color]

Oh…this was a conversation. And they were having it. OK. Demi didn't want to look Zeke in the eyes. Both because he had a point to what he had said, and because he didn't want to think about how he had felt moments ago. [Color=6666FF]”I- … I know. Ok. I know. I'm just…I'm stupid ok. That's all.”[/color] He said dismissively.

[color=#EEE8AA]”No…No, you're not stupid, Demetri.”[/color] Zeke took Demi's face in his hands, forcing Demi to keep eye contact. [color=#EEE8AA]”It’s something that's bothering you, and I don't think you said it just to throw it in my face, even though that completely sucked by the way.”[/color]

[Color=6666FF]”I have been known to suck”[/color] Demi said with a smirk, though his heart clearly wasn't in that comment. Almost like a defensive reflex to avoid this situation. He took in a shaky deep breath, his palms now firmly pressed against the top of the table before pushing himself up and onto it to sit down. He couldn't stand anymore, his legs felt like jelly as they spoke. [Color=6666FF]”I don't know Z…I really don't. It was like something ugly just reared it's head out of me that I didn't know I had.”[/color]

[color=#EEE8AA]”Yes, very well the last time I remember,”[/color] Zeke teased Demi. He let his hands drop, watching Demetri fidget and have the serious conversation. Zeke frowned, more concern in his eyes, when Demi didn't have much of an answer for him. [color=#EEE8AA]”Okay, well… It stems from somewhere… did you have a bad breakup one time or…or something else?”[/color] Zeke asked. It was then that he realized they had never really had much of a talk like this. 

Demi knew Zeke grew up poor and rough, and Zeke knew Demi had an easier financial childhood but Ezekiel didn't really know all the details. They mostly talked about camp and a future beyond the borders of the camp when Zeke wasn't brooding about Demetri's fiancé.

[Color=6666FF]”I wasn't joking back at the Lotus Hotel. You literally met my ex. That damned Empousa we killed. Strung me along, dated me, just to lead me out to the open for slaughter…but it's not just him Z. It's everyone. I'm only useful till I'm not and then…and…then I'm just tossed aside like I'm nothing.”[/color] Demi hadn't realized he'd been harboring these feelings. Especially even about his ex. He figured killing him the first time around was enough, the second was just a cherry on top. But deep down it really bothered him.

[color=#EEE8AA]”Mmm, right. That punk,”[/color] Zeke said, nodding. However, it was the rest of that statement that bothered Zeke now. 

He rested his hands on Demetri's legs, rubbing his thumbs over his legs. [color=#EEE8AA]”Do you feel that I've tossed you aside?”[/color]

Demi didn't know how to answer him. He wanted to be honest, but how honest could he be? How blunt? His eyes rolled up to stare at the ceiling before falling back down and watching Zeke's hand on his thigh. [Color=6666FF]”You literally left me alone with people who hate me in the middle of the night to go gallivanting with your sister ahead of us. I'd say that's pretty tossed aside Z.”[/color]

Ezekiel froze. Demi was right, of course he was right but Zeke hadn't seen it that way. He had been helping his sister who had lost someone important to her and was about to enter her hell to get them back. And well, no one had been particularly supportive of her. 

[color=#EEE8AA]”Well, you had Alexios,”[/color] Zeke grumbled. He pulled back from Demi and turned around, leaning against the table beside Demi, his arms crossed.
[color=#EEE8AA]”And I'm not exactly well loved by everyone either, you know. But you're right. I honestly wasn't thinking about it that way, which may be worse, but you're right and I'm sorry I made you feel that way. I couldn't let Nancy go off alone. I didn't want her to be alone, and leaving you with the others, well, you weren't alone I didn’t think and if I had told you, then you'd want to come, which would mean Alexios would come and I'm certain Nancy would have done worse to him than punch him because of what he represents. Honestly, Zeus has the worst timing.”[/color]

[Color=6666FF]”I [i]had[/i] Alexios? [I]HAD[/i] Alexios?! Are you kidding me right now Kel!”[/color] Demi gripped the tin he'd set aside, the metal groaning under his pressure before he chucked it across the room. The lid splattering off its base and bending too far to be able to be placed back. Demi launched himself off of the table as he began to pace back and forth. [Color=6666FF]”You think I wanted him? That I want him to have been there? To be here?! I didn't ask for any of that! What i wanted was YOU! I CRIED EVERY NIGHT you weren't there! I slept in separate TRAIN CARS because I couldn't stomach the others seeing me! Hell i didn't even eat until the day I saw you! And you [i]think[/i] for one [i]moment[/i] that I would be happy that he was there instead of you?!”[/color]

Ezekiel flinched when the tin hit the wall. He stared at the spot until Demetri invaded his vision. The revelation of what effect Ezekiel's leaving had had sucker punched him right in the face. Zeke glanced away, when his suspicions about Demi's lack of eating came to light. 

[color=#EEE8AA]”Nancy didn't eat either…,”[/color] he said lamely. Honestly, Zeke wasn't sure there was anything he could say to make this better.

The stay in the hotel had been fun for Zeke. Road tripping across the country with Nancy had been fun, too, despite their reason for doing it. And all the time, people were suffering. And he didn't even think about it. He honestly thought Demi would be fine, and he Nancy would be once they got Mads back. They just had to get her back. 

[color=#EEE8AA]”I'm here now…I'm not going anywhere. I hate your stupid fiancé but I'm not letting your father win.”[/color] Ezekiel stared at a spot on the ground by Demetri's shoes. Zekee couldn't make up for what he had done, all he could do was be better. 

The mention of Nancy again made Demi's blood boil for a moment. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs that this wasn't about her. To tell zeke then even now in this moment, all he was doing was thinking about his sister. But he didn't. He stopped, not just from speaking, but from his pacing too. He took in a deep, jagged breath, tears being held back as he tried to tell himself that Nancy wasn't the problem. She wasn't the enemy. They had buried the hatchet, a clean slate. There was no need to dig it back up, but here was Zeke with the fucking shovel. 

He let it all out, one long shaky breath as his hand gripped his shirt hem tight. [Color=6666FF]”I'm sorry to hear that Nancy suffered too. Her and I, we've decided to start on a new page. So I don't want to think about the past. I want to look forward and leave it at that. But Zeke…”[/color] Demi turned to face his boyfriend, walking up to him and lifting his face so that he looked directly at him while he spoke. His eyes were red and watery, his hands shaking. [Color=6666FF]”Zeke I want to give you the world, gods be damned, but you just won't take it. You say you don't want Zeus to win yet here you are getting upset over his stupid game! I love you because of who you are, because of what's inside and your willingness to spit in their faces just as much as I am. But I need you to be [i]present[/i] with me. I want to do better by you, to not have to force your time by dividing me and Nancy. All I can do is promise to try and be better but I have no idea where these ugly feelings come from. This hunger that gnaws away at me from the inside like it did earlier today. I can't control it, but I can try and be better.”[/color] 

Ezekiel met Demi's eyes, filling his stomach dip from seeing how red they were, and from Demi's words. [I]The world? He loves me?[/I] Zeke's heart started to speed up, and it was difficult to focus on the rest of Demetri's words. But he did wonder if Demi was serious about spitting in the gods' faces, because Hades knew how difficult it was going to be for the two of them if they ignored Fate's plan. 

Ezekiel shifted, wrapping his arm around Demetri's waist and pulled him in closer. [color=#EEE8AA]”You stole my line,”[/color] Zeke replied. [color=#EEE8AA]”I love you, too.”[/color] And then he kissed Demetri.

Demetri was shocked at the sudden advancement from Zeke. Wait love? Did he say love? His eyes went wide, but he was so happy. He hadn't meant to say it, he thought it was too soon, that it'd scare Zeke away, but he felt the same. Demi leaned Into the kiss, pulling Zeke closer as he wrapped his legs around Zeke's waist. [Color=6666FF]”We have an hour right? We could use a bit of it to ourselves? Finish what we couldn't in the showers?”[/color]

Ezekiel chuckled, picked Demetri up, and placed him on the table. [color=#EEE8AA]”I remember you mentioned something about stretching me out?”[/color] Zeke said, not moving his lips from Demi's.