001 » with my legs up on the dashboard

[receptacles]

TFLN OVERFLOW.

for caelus at receptacles.

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[receptacles]

[ normally, this is the type of joke that would make caelus laugh, maybe even cheer a little bit. as it is, sampo only gets a light, barely-audible ha. ]

I like frosting. But what's the point?

[ more fabric rustling. a deep sigh. ]

...Just forget it, Sampo. If you don't want anything to do with it, I'll take care of it on my own.

[scampo]

( a sigh for a sigh. no one told sampo that this parenting business would be so tough. )

Buddy, you know nothing would make me happier than co-parenting whatever abomination ends up hatching out of our egg and teaching it the art of the deal. ( yeah, he's raising a hustler. your point? ) It's not that.

I just want you and Lil' Sampo #2 to have the best you can have. And I'm not sure if that's me.

( more like he knows he isn't. besides nice tits, a great ass, and a charming disposition, he's not sure what caelus sees in him. )

But... if I'm going to be a family man, I guess I can hang up my life of... less than savory alliances... and go on the straight-and-narrow. For you. And for Caepo.

[receptacles]

[ he's silent for a little while. not just because sampo insists on calling the damn thing caepo (isn't saelus better?), but because this is a lot more than he was expecting, or even what he though sampo was trying to say, earlier. ]

...Would you really do that?

I've never expected you to... [ a pause. his voice is a bit shaky; he sounds like he might cry again. ] I've never asked you to be anything but what you are.

I don't know why it's so hard for you to believe that I like you.

[scampo]

Sure. What's life without spicing things up sometimes? Maybe I'll be a banker this time around.

( how long he'll remain on the good path is a different story. it could last a year. it could last an hour. the fact that he's giving a change of career any thought at all [or at least saying that he is] is what counts, right? )

I believe you like me, love. I like you, too. It's just...

( how much to divulge? to be real in vulnerable in the face of caelus' vulnerability, or to keep up the game? caelus, living vessel for the cancer of all worlds, member of the astral express, aligned with the IPC, the xianzhou, the stellaron hunters [to some extent], and countless other factions across the cosmos. getting in with him is like striking gold for someone like sampo, someone who relies on leverage and connections to stay afloat.

knocking him up, and whatever new level of entanglement that entails, is a boon.

but even sampo can see the ways in which he uses his bright-eyed, bushy-tailed baby daddy for fame and fortune are pretty scummy. he can't admit it aloud, and he can't admit it to anyone, but he can certainly see the moral quandaries. granted, he likes caelus well enough. he likes his body, likes his eyes, likes the curve of his spine, likes his nail beds. he likes the way caelus shares his high scores via text, and he likes the way he gets excited over finding new things others have given up on, and he likes the way his thighs tremble when he rides him, determined to make sampo feel good. he also likes the security he provides in the face of sampo's endless list of debtors and enemies. he's got friends in high places, so you'd better think twice before coming after him.

so, is it time to come clean, say caelus has been nothing but his get out of jail free card? )

...you really think I can hack it as a dad? Can't say I've ever been real role model material, y'know. I'd hate to mess it all up. Our kid-slash-trashcan-slash-cakecat... I want it to be good.

( apparently not.

he's got a few swipes yet, and he's not ready to lose them. )