Crescent x Gradient Oneshots

When his dad was infected, Gradient did not take it well.

He and his dad never spoke a lot, but they had started getting to know each other after the infection started and Gradient liked to think they were close.

And then he was just ripped away from him like that.

He didn't want to do anything for a while, and if it weren't for Crescent's incredible patience, Gradient would have probably died. Especially since everyone wanted to keep their hands free to defend themselves and they couldn't do that if they had to drag Gradient along.

Fortunately, this was not a problem for Crescent and he had no issues with carrying Gradient's dead weight on his back until he stopped being so freaking depressed.

He stayed with Gradient despite everything. He made sure he ate and slept, and he held him close whenever Gradient woke up from a nightmare about what had happened that day, even if there were infected around and he really should have just run.

So it was only fair that Gradient returned the favour.

He'd finally figured out what Crescent had desired when he'd been infected. While one part was not to hurt anyone, he had also wanted the chance to grieve for his parents. He'd let Gradient have that opportunity, but he'd never given himself the chance. Until the choice to was stripped from him along with his left arm.

"Crescent," he called softly. "Crescent, wake up, it's morning." His boyfriend hummed, letting him know he'd heard, but not actually getting up. "Let's get going, okay?"

"Do... do we have to...?" Crescent asked. "There's... there's no one here..."

"Yeah, but I'm hungry," he said. Crescent used to say that to him whenever he didn't feel like getting up, because he cared enough about the others even if he didn't care for himself.

He shifted slightly, blinking up at Gradient as he probably tried to pick apart his emotions and make sense of them. There wasn't a specific emotion for hungry, was there?

"Okay..." he mumbled. "We can... get you something..."

"Thanks," he replied, helping the other up.

Gradient hadn't been lying about being hungry, but honestly, Crescent probably needed to get up and move around. At least a little bit.

They had found an apartment building and had been staying in it for a while because, well... beds! Only, Crescent had laid down and then stopped getting up in the morning.

Now that they were safe, he really didn't have many reasons not to grieve, but it still made Gradient feel bad. Was this how Crescent felt when he was like this?

"Do we have any pasta?" he asked. "I feel like having some for breakfast."

"Yeah... it's on the fridge," Crescent mumbled.

"Can you get it for me?"

"You can reach it though...?"

"I know," he said. "Just gonna start up the stove first."

"Oh... okay then," he said. "I... I can get it..."

"Thank you," Gradient said, as he switched the stove on and waited for it to heat up. Crescent hummed in response, reaching up and pulling the packet of pasta down.

"Here..."

"Thank you," he said, then before Crescent could leave, he added, "will you sit with me? I know you don't need to eat anymore, but I wanna have your company."

"If... if that's what you want," he replied.

Gradient smiled at him, and maybe he was proud when Crescent gave him a small smile in return.