Chapter Text
They get ready to leave the book not long after the “Prunella getting trapped on a horse and subsequently saved by Buddy” incident.
Wave profusely apologized despite it being Deacon's fault and Deacon looked super guilty, apologizing to Prunella directly, whom brushed him off as if it was whatever and she wasn't scared at all. As to how it even happened in the first place… well, Chase didn't really pay much attention to that explanation since he was too busy watching Buddy and Prunella go up to the horse together afterwards. Once it had calmed down, it was a lot more open to the attention. Buddy even picked Prunella up again to help her feed the horse a bit of an apple.
The whole thing just reinforced Chase in his new thinking that he needed to tell Buddy the truth as soon as possible. That he couldn't just avoid it forever. That he didn't want to avoid it forever. He wanted to know how Buddy would react and how they'd navigate it together. He wanted the chance to navigate it together.
So, later, when they're pulling their keys out to leave, he stands in front of Buddy and gazes at him. In this moment, Chase knows what he wants to do as he says, “take me home.”
The fictional world around them goes up in a brilliant golden light and the real world resolves into the tower room at sunset. Deacon, Prunella, and Chase are all standing by the book, while the keys are popping back to themselves on the floor. Chase crouches down and the warm and fading sunlight catches on a particular black key man who gazes up at him. Sitting down, Chase offers him the tip of his finger and Buddy slowly, softly brushes his tiny hand along it. He gazes into Chase’s hazelnut eyes with his moonstone ones.
Chase spots Violet in the corner of his eyes and he blinks, looking at her as she analyzes the interaction and the return of physical contact between him and Buddy with her arms crossed. Then finally, she nods very subtly at Chase and he feels like he just earned something incredible. He blinks in surprise, and then feels Buddy tugging on his finger.
Turning his gaze back down to Buddy, he finds Buddy smiling up at him. “Open your hand.” He glances at Chase’s lazily closed hand.
Chase slowly unfurls his fingers, watching and feeling as Buddy climbs up onto his hand and plops down onto Chase’s palm. He sits with his legs crossed and leans back on his hands, gazing up at Chase with a soft smile.
“I love you,” Chase says, the words slipping out before he even thinks about it. Half on instinct and half on impulse.
Buddy sits up, tugging Chase’s thumb over to himself to kiss it delicately. “I love you, too.”
Chase feels a heat bloom across his cheeks as he gazes lovingly down at Buddy.
“Okay, as cute as you two are,” Deacon groans a little off to the side. “It's time to take you home.” He points to Prunella as she goes from smiling and laughing with Goldie to a comically sudden frown.
Chase sits up a little, looking at Deacon. “Uh, Dorkin?” he asks, his voice soft, a little nervous.
Deacon looks at him, sitting back on his own hands. “Yeah?”
“Do you want to take Prunella home today? I… I want to talk to Buddy,” Chase trails off softly, giving Deacon a look he hopes only he will be able to figure out.
Deacon's eyes widen gently, surprised. “Oh, uh…” He blinks a few times and then nods. “Yeah, yeah. Yeah, of course!” he agrees, turning quickly to Prunella. “Come on, Pru.” He gets up and watches Prunella climb down the ladder before turning a look onto Chase that practically says “you got this” before he turns back around and climbs down himself. Elsewhere, Bronze and Goldie return to their respective homes.
“You want to talk to Nox?” Silver raises, her voice sweet and her smile soft as she looks between Buddy and Chase.
Silver might be assuming it's about Buddy's nightmare, but it's not. Chase won't tell her that just yet, though. He has his sights on who needs to be next to know about his… latest little development.
So, he nods down at Silver. “Yeah, I do… so… actually…” Chase trails off, thinking about how he wants to be on even footing with Buddy for this conversation. He wants Buddy to be as human as he can be for this. With that, Chase casts a small look Violet's way. “Do you two mind if we hop into one more book?”
Violet's gaze snaps to Buddy immediately, a hint of concern flashing through her eyes. “You want to be intimate again so soon?”
Buddy raises his eyebrows. “I…” He looks up at Chase questioningly, confusion in his eyes. “Do you?”
Chase shakes his head automatically, giving Buddy a small smile. He pats his head very softly, making Buddy shiver as his eyes flutter closed and he leans into the touch. “No. I meant what I said, Buds. We can be more than just physical intimacy.”
Buddy slowly opens his moonstone eyes up again, gazing up at Chase with a profound love in his. “Okay.” He smiles slowly and softly.
Chase doesn't know much about being with someone with the trauma that Buddy has, but he suspects Buddy's having an easier and easier time trusting that they can be together without sex all the time each time Chase says it and shows it. Chase smiles back down at him.
“So, if it's not about intimacy, then what is it about?” Violet suddenly asks, holding her hand out and narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
“I want to talk to him about something… important,” Chase trails off gently, trying not to give too much away, but also trying to put Violet at ease.
Violet eyes him for a long second. Then, she breathes out long and slow. “Okay. Well, if Nox wants to talk, then–”
“I do!” Buddy sits up in Chase’s hand, giving Violet an eager look that makes Chase’s heart flutter and constrict. He has no idea what's coming. Then Buddy looks up at Chase with a trusting look of love. “If it's important, then I want to hear it. Even if it's not important, I still want to hear it.”
Chase smiles down at him, fighting back a sudden stinging sensation in his eyes. “Yeah, me, too.” He nods at Buddy. Then he drives a gentle look at Silver and Violet. “And you guys don't have to worry about doing outfits this time. It can just be us, as we are.”
Silver gives Chase and Buddy a sweet look and coos, “awe, okay!” She brushes away tears she can't cry. Then she cheerfully claps her hands and announces, “all right then!” She looks at Violet, intertwining their hands. “Come, sister, let’s not make them wait a moment longer.”
Violet looks back at Silver with a dramatic expression of long suffering, then she just sighs deeply before popping into a key and Silver follows behind. They tumble to the floor they were standing on a moment ago. Chase looks at Buddy, quirking a hint of a smile, and Buddy huffs a chuckle.
Buddy climbs off Chase’s hand and walks over to hoist Violet’s key form up as Chase picks Silver up gently. Turning around, Buddy leans Violet against the floor to balance her better. “Are we going back into this book or another?”
Chase thinks about it for a moment, glancing up at the pirate romance book they went into a few days ago, but then he considers one important fact. He breathes out, looking back down at the book already in front of them. “This one, I think. I can't go into a book that takes course over more than one day.”
Buddy looks up at Chase curiously. “Why not?”
Chase sighs, giving Buddy a patiently imploring look. “I'll tell you in the book.”
Buddy frowns gently. “Is something wrong, Chase?”
Chase inhales a little sharply on instinct, but then breathes it out slowly. “Just… trust me?” he asks, his gaze soft.
Buddy gazes up at him with a tender look in his eyes as he steps up to the book. “Always,” he breathes, raising Violet when he steps onto the book’s surface, and then sticks her key into it. He gives Chase one last trusting look before he turns it and magically vanishes in a golden light, shimmering out of existence.
Chase smiles, already feeling a stinging at his eyes again. He leans forward, putting Silver into the keyhole that appears on the cover of the book. He breathes in, then exhales, and turns the key.
When he arrives in the book, he's in the carriage again, wearing his usual every day outfit, and he breathes deeply. He turns toward the storybook prince who is raving about his castle and his plans for the future and how excited he is to get married to the heroine.
Mid ramble, Chase interrupts him when he says, “tell them to pull over.”
The prince cuts off, freezing, then looking wide eyed at Chase. “Oh, why? Dearest, are you all right?”
Chase gives him a gentle and certain look. “I’m as okay as I can be, but you're not the man I want. I belong somewhere else with someone else.”
The prince blinks in shock. “Dearest?”
Chase turns away from him. “If you won't do it, then I will.” He sticks his head out of the carriage window on his side and calls out to the man leading the horses at the front. “Pull over! I'm getting out!”
The carriage pulls to a gradual halt and Chase hears the prince call out to him.
“Wait!” he cries, but Chase is already pushing open the carriage door and jumping down onto the packed dirt road in his sneakers.
The world feels almost like it's moving slower as he starts walking off, the prince's startled cries of surprise drifting off while he makes his way toward where Deacon’s cards said they were supposed to meet the queen for the first time. The sun is bright and high up in the sky, but the trees provide enough tall coverage that the light is a bit spotted. Still, Chase continues on, holding his hand above his eyes like a visor to spot the black horse in the trees. It starts coming out and Chase sees its rider as it leaves the coverage of the trees. He stops in his tracks, staring.
He told Silver and Violet that they didn't need any special outfits this time around, that he wanted them to be as they were. He doesn't know what he was expecting. He hadn't ever seen a key in a book before himself, even though Deacon and Prunella both had. Deacon even described what Silver looked like, but he… just didn't believe it? Or maybe he didn't really think about what Buddy would look like in a book if Violet wasn't transforming him to look more human or decorating him in a pretty outfit of her own design.
But now, he does.
Chase stares up at Buddy as the man directs his horse to a stop just in front of him. The horse is black, but its darkness is eclipsed by the otherworldly black of Buddy's key armor, with the only brighter color being his gray thigh high boots. He looks so different and simultaneously so him. Even his shoulder pieces sit on broader shoulders, or maybe the scale difference just makes it look like that. But what's most striking to Chase, is the way Buddy's pale alabaster skin fades into dark charcoal coloring on the edges. His silver blue eyes stand out in stark contrast to the darkening gradient of his face blending right into the ends of his black bangs.
Buddy gazes down at Chase with love in his eyes, but there's also a hint of nervousness as Chase takes in his appearance.
Finally, Chase whispers, “you're beautiful.”
Buddy's eyes widen softly, almost imperceptibly. “So are you.”
Chase smiles a little.
“Come on.” Buddy gestures to the back of the horse, directing the horse to turn to its side for Chase. “You said you wanted to talk about something important. I don't want that entitled prince to interrupt us.” Buddy glances over Chase’s head and at something behind him.
Chase turns to find the prince speed walking over to him from the carriage. “I'm on my way, dearest! Just give me a moment. These shoes weren't made for running,” the prince calls out.
Chase rolls his eyes, turning back to Buddy. “Oh, please, rescue me from this stupid prince. Be my hero,” Chase pleads up at Buddy with his hands held up and his lips scrunched up in a pout, fighting back a smile.
Buddy raises a single eyebrow, then he relaxes it, chuckling. He lowers his hand, reaching out to Chase with his gray gloved fingers. “For you? Always.”
Chase slips his hand into Buddy's, reveling in the feel of his glove and how strangely like leather, but a super soft leather it feels like. He puts his foot into one of the stirrups and uses Buddy's hand to help hoist him up onto the horse behind the other man. Chase settles in, shuffling up close to Buddy.
“Hold on tight, my star,” Buddy calls back, giving Chase a look that'd make anyone weak in the knees, but especially Chase. Chase slips his arms around Buddy's waist, resting his head on his shoulder. Buddy brushes his hands along Chase’s wrapped together in front of his waist. He presses on them, breathing in deeply, brushing his thumb against Chase’s knuckles. Then, he slowly lets go of Chase’s hands and focuses back on the reigns. “Don't worry. I know exactly where to go to get away from the prince,” Buddy chuckles, then kicks things into gear and suddenly the horse is jumping into action and going much faster than Chase thought it would. “I said to hold on tight!” Buddy calls back, his smile clear in his voice.
Chase tightens his hold around him, laughing as the horse carrying them runs through the packed dirt road and up it. They ride right past the castle entrance and go off down a lesser trod road to the edge of the forested area until it gives way to a small rocky beach. Buddy gradually slows down once they reach the grey-toned rocky and sandy shores. Chase marvels at the lapping of the water and the way the sunlight glistens on it, highlighting every wave and fractal of movement.
Buddy slows the horse to a halt, turning back to Chase. “We're here, my love.”
Chase is almost worried to get off the horse now, because after that, he's not so sure his legs work anymore. Suddenly, Chase surges forward, grasping Buddy's cheek and slows only when he gets close to his lips so he can pull away if he doesn't want it. But Buddy doesn't pull away. Instead, he turns at a better angle in his seat so he can grasp Chase's face, too, and they kiss deeply. Even so, there's no tongue. Just a loving passion that doesn't need to be completely sexual to be real. Chase's hand draws down Buddy's check to his chest, feeling the way his armor undulates underneath his breathing and his movement to get closer to Chase. Then finally, they slowly pull apart. Buddy brushes his lips against Chase’s softly before pulling away enough to break the kiss completely.
“Wow,” Buddy breathes, licking his lips.
And Chase knows it. He loves this man more than anything else. He doesn't care if Buddy's his first already. He wants him to be his last, too. And he can't wait until Buddy's human again so that he can kiss him just like this in the real world, too.
Chase sighs dreamily, placing a tender kiss to Buddy's cheek. “You said it.” He smiles and that smile broadens when Buddy leans back into him with a deep sigh. Chase wraps his arms around his waist, slipping them underneath his arms. Buddy wraps his own hands around Chase’s in front of himself again. Finally, Chase nestles up, brushing his nose along the space between Buddy’s jaw and his neck. Buddy visibly shivers, his breath hitching.
“You are… perfect,” Buddy breathes out, turning his face to brush his nose against Chase's.
Chase smiles softly. “So are you.”
Buddy knits his brow, quirking an eyebrow softly, a little disbelievingly. “Not nearly as much as you.”
Chase rolls his eyes playfully, giggling. He feels a pang of uncertainty at Buddy's words, though. Even Deacon pointed out that Buddy idolizes Chase and Chase knows he does, but every time he's reminded of that fact, it stuns him a little bit every time. He has no idea how to fix that. He doesn't want Buddy to trust him more than he trusts himself, but he doesn't know how to get Buddy to believe in himself even half as much as he believes in Chase.
Shifting a little, Chase reminds himself of why he brought Buddy into this book. His demeanor grows somber as he exhales softly. “There's something I need to tell you.”
Buddy's brow knits in concern. “What is it? You seem worried.”
Chase breathes out again, resting his chin on Buddy's shoulder as he looks out across the open expanse of ocean. There's a lighthouse in the far distance, reflecting the sunlight in differing directions. “I am worried,” Chase admits quietly.
“What are you worried about?” Buddy asks, reaching up and brushing the back of his finger along Chase’s cheekbone.
Chase almost flutters his eyes closed at the contact, no matter how minimal it is. He swallows, forcing himself to sit up. “Come on. Let's get off the horse. It should rest after running us both up here.”
“It's not real,” Buddy chuckles. “It doesn't need to rest.”
Chase looks back at Buddy, giving him a soft and imploring look. “Can we just… get off anyways?”
Buddy blinks, the seriousness of Chase’s voice causing him to shift his own demeanor. “Of course.”
Chase moves back, swinging his leg over and jumping down off the horse. Buddy slides a bit back to get a better placement before doing the same, setting aside the reins.
Moving back a few feet, Chase turns to find a rock nearby. He walks over to it, padding his sneakers through the damp sand. Once he reaches it, he takes a nervous seat, looking up to find Buddy following him. Buddy sits down next to him, hunching a little as he rests his hands in his lap.
“What is it?” Buddy asks, his voice utterly soft as he turns a tender look onto Chase.
Chase feels his eyes stinging, tempted to look out when the sun starts to set over the waters. “It's so… amazing how much you’ve grown and changed over such a short amount of time.”
Buddy raises his eyebrows softly. “I… have changed a lot.” He glances down.
“In good ways,” Chase murmurs, brushing his hand across Buddy's cheek.
Buddy sighs, leaning into the touch, and his lips look like they're tempting a smile.
I don't know if this is going to crush him or not, Chase suddenly thinks, staring at Buddy while the other man closes his eyes to lean his cheek into Chase's hand. He grasps it with his own, holding it there. But I do know that I can't run from it anymore. Not from telling him. He deserves to know. He needs to know.
Chase inhales a little sharply, causing Buddy to blink his eyes open, looking up at him. His eyes are utterly mesmerizing. They always have been. Everything about him has always been mesmerizing to him. Even when they were enemies and physically fought each other. It wasn't healthy, but Chase was drawn to him anyways. It wasn't his hot looks or even the banter that really sent Chase falling for him. It was his capacity for incredible love and compassion.
Chase now knows about his past. He doesn't know all of it, but he knows well enough that Buddy grew up in the kind of life that could make anyone a bully or a total jerk. And yeah, he kind of was one. But that’s not who he is. It's a defense to protect himself, and that is something Chase can understand. He has loved every day he's seen the layers of walls Buddy built up over the years slowly come undone. He's so completely and hopelessly in love with this man. And he's terrified of ruining that, but he can't hide this truth from him any longer.
“Buddy,” Chase breathes, brushing his thumb across Buddy's cheekbone. Buddy is gazing at him with complete and utter focus, as if the rest of the world doesn't exist beyond Chase. “Nox…” Chase gets a little nervous and uses the name he knows means something to Buddy, even if it's a name only his family really call him.
Buddy's eyes widen almost imperceptibly, but he doesn't say anything or even move. He just waits. He waits for Chase.
Chase swallows, feeling his eyes stinging harshly. He blinks once to try and get past it. Then he breathes out, knowing it's now or never. Leaning forward a little, Chase breathes in long and slow. He comes just shy of resting his forehead against Buddy's, seeing Buddy's eyes watching his every movement. Not out of nervousness, but out of Buddy being mesmerized by him. “I'm…” Chase starts, parting his lips on an exhale. “I…” Chase blinks slowly, focusing on Buddy's eyes so completely that the rest of his world falls away to leave only Buddy in place. “I'm pregnant.”
Chase sees the moment Buddy's curious and enraptured, loving gaze turns over and is flooded by surprise. It's so subtle, but it's there. Then the initial surprise turns to a wider disbelief as Buddy widens his eyes. Then, to Chase’s dismay even if he suspected it was coming, it turns to panic. Buddy stares into Chase’s eyes for a long moment, like he's waiting for Chase to say it was just a joke or he misspoke, and when Chase doesn't say anything else, Buddy breathes out a soft and almost inaudible, “what?”