Work Text:
Nathaniel watched as Titania poked around in the flower beds, his husband Marc besides him.
“Hey Angel?” Marc suddenly asked. Nathaniel looked over at him, indicating that he was listening. “Remember how we met?”
Nathaniel smiled. “Don’t think I could ever forget it. Crazy how one simple handshake would give me everything I never knew I needed.”
~♡~
Nathaniel dug his shovel into the ground, digging up the dirt. Finally, he could see his wooden prize. Elated, he dropped the shovel and cleared the dirt away with his hands. When he cleared all the dirt was cleared away, Nathaniel found the simple metal clasp that stopped the lid from opening.
Grinning, Nathaniel went to unlatch it when he heard the sound of something moving through the cemetery. He froze, straining his ears to pick up any other noises. No one else was supposed to come through here. Nathaniel had memorized the routine of the caretaker when he had first started his killings and the graves he chose were tucked away in the back, forgotten about by almost everyone.
The noise continued, a shuffling sound that grew closer and closer until Nathaniel could hear another sound. Something was sniffing about, causing Nathaniel’s heart to start pounding and mind to race. The redhead scrambled away, hiding behind a large bush that was nearby.
Once his heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest, a man with a pretty face seemed to pop out of the darkness. He sniffed around before zeroing in on the body Nathaniel brought, peeling back the plastic sheet.
The guy smiled wide before tightly grasping the body and biting into it, tearing the flesh off the bone. Nathaniel stared in horror, shock, and surprise as the dead body was torn into.
Nathaniel didn’t realize he had moved until the guy’s head snapped up and the two were making direct eye contact. As both of their eyes widened in shock and horror, Nathaniel bolted, running back to his car and away from the green eyed beauty.
~♡~
The next day found Nathaniel sitting in his publisher’s office, waiting to meet the writer of the comic book he was working on. The two had connected online, it had started with ReversedRainbow sharing a story he had written inspired by one of Mighti_Illustrator’s drawings and continued with the partnership of Marc and Nathaniel. They hadn’t met each other in real life or even seen the other’s face, yet that didn’t stop the two from creating a comic book together. Eventually their fun little project gained enough attention and traction that it was picked up by a publisher, who wanted the two to work on the comic together in real life. The creators, after talking it over, had agreed to do a meet up at the firm their publisher worked at, leading to Nathaniel waiting for Marc to arrive at their publisher’s office.
A knock on the door interrupted Nathaniel’s thoughts and pulled him out of his head. As his publisher walked to answer the door, she said. “That must be Marc.”
She opened the door, allowing Marc, a beautiful and very familiar looking man, inside her office.
‘That’s the guy from the cemetery!’ They both thought as they stared wide eyed at the other.
“It’s nice that the two of you can finally meet in person, hopefully this can help your comic book flourish even more.” Their publisher enthusiastically stated. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting I need to get to. I’ll see you two later.” She left the room, oblivious to the tension in the room.
The two stared at the other, Nathaniel’s hand twitching as he yearned to grab his knife and run it through the noiret.
“I think we need to talk about last night.” Marc finally said, keeping his distance.
“You mean how you started eating a dead body?” Nathaniel asked, attempting to steer the conversation away from what he did.
Marc sighed. “That and the fact you dug up a grave with a newly dead body next to you.” Nathaniel winced at the reminder. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say you killed her. After all, why else would you bring a body to a graveyard in the middle of the night?” He had the audacity to smirk at Nathaniel.
“Well at least I’m not a cannibal.” Nathaniel shot back.
“Calling me a cannibal implies that I’m human, darling.”
Nathaniel’s eyes widened at the statement. “What? Are you saying that you’re not a human?”
Marc nodded. “That’s right. I may look like a human but in reality I’m a zombie.”
He pulled down the collar of his turtleneck sweater. Halfway down Marc’s neck the color of his skin changed from tan to green.
“Now then, seeing as both we know the other’s life ruining secret, I propose a truce. I keep your secret and you keep mine, do we have a deal?”
Nathaniel looked at the gloved hand Marc offered him before making eye contact with him. He strode forward until he was directly in front of the noiret. Nathaniel sighed and grabbed Marc’s hand.
“Fine.”
~♡~
Marc fondly smiled. “Yeah, who would have thought that one handshake would change our whole lives.”
Nathaniel smiled back before his attention was taken by Titania running towards them.
“Daddy! Papa! I found a treasure!” Their daughter cheered, carefully placing what she had found in Nathaniel’s hand.
He examined it, his smile widening when he realized that it was the knife tip that had broken off during his latest kill. “That’s a very nice treasure you found sweetie, you want me to put it with the others?”
At Titania’s eager nod, Nathaniel kissed his husband’s cheek and headed inside to put her newest treasure in her little box of treasures.
Outside, he could see Titania leading Marc around the garden, treasure hunting once more.