Ivory had been feeling pretty lonely the last couple of days. Sin had disappeared again without saying a word. But he just was that kind of a guy. Ivory had to accept that. But he knew that Sin would always return. Always. So, Ivory had tried to distract himself by watching TV and painting. Though, seeing all the happy couples in movies had partly made him feel even more longing. And partly they had given him stupidly loving feelings – when you're deeply in love, even bad romantic movies can fill your heart with strange warmness and good feeling. At least that's how it was for Ivory. 

Whenever he wasn't watching TV, he had pretty much spent his time with art. Currently he had worked on a piece with black roses and a creature that could be called a dragon. He had seen a picture of one in a book and was now trying to create his own version of the mythical beast. According to the book, these creatures really had existed, but that was long ago. They probably disappeared during the apocalyptic disaster known as the Plague of Gods, since many other races vanished as well. But it was hard to tell nowadays if any of these occurrences really happened. But still, Ivory found these things to be quite fascinating.

It occurred on one night that Ivory lost completely his track of time. He had been so deeply into this new project of his that he hadn't noticed how much time had passed. It was almost morning when he realized that he should probably go to sleep. So, he left his equipment to wait for a new session and headed to bed. He hadn't comprehended how tired he was. And when he placed his body to a bed, he fell asleep almost immediately.

But bad dreams were waiting for him.

In his dreams he saw a young woman he had never met, but who was still familiar to him. It was his mother. A beautiful maiden with dark hair, as dark as was her heart. She was speaking of hurtful things, all aimed at him.

“You're a pig, just like all the other men.”

“You may have a pretty face, but your heart is a piece of shit.”

“No one will ever love a slut like you.”

“You're not even supposed to be alive.”

“Go and try to fly with that only fucked up wing you have. I want to see you fall.”

So much hatred. She blamed Ivory for all the bad things that had happened to her. And she had succeeded in making him feel guilty. It was the reason why Ivory felt the need to be nice and tried to get loved. Because he was weighted down by hatred from the woman that had given him life.

For the rest of the time he was asleep, he was haunted by the nightmares of his mother. He got released only after he woke up. Sweaty and feeling awful, he raised to sit in his bed, curling up a little, arms hugging his legs. The markings on his skin had turned to black, indicating that he was feeling horrible. He could hear a rain pounding at the window. And just for a little while, Ivory stayed like that, listening to the soothing sound of rain while trying to get rid of all the bad thoughts that had now invaded his mind. He shook his head, as if that would help him to get everything bad out of it. Then he decided to get up. He was putting some clothes back on when he realized that it was almost evening already. He had slept the whole day. That was probably even a better reason to get off the bed. And with that, he left the room, descending the stairway to downstairs. He felt like going for a little walk to clear his head, even though there was raining. He grasped a black umbrella and stepped outside.

Because of the time of day and bad weather, there weren't that many people to meet in the streets. Mostly they were people coming out of work, heading to their homes to relax the rest of the evening. Ivory passed all those foreign faces, wandering aimlessly through Olden Shadow Town. Going outside and getting a little bit of exercise was already making him feel better – enough to make his markings to turn purple again – but it couldn't remove all the negative emotions. So, he just kept walking.

Somehow, he managed to wander all the way to near the outskirts of the town. Ivory paused his going on a bus stop, as if waiting for one to take him away. He wondered if he should turn around and go back. But for some reason, he felt like that he should stay there for a bit. With a blank mind, the drumming of the rain was the only thing he focused on.

Ivory didn't know how much time had passed when he detected some movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to look at that direction. Someone was approaching him. In no time, Ivory recognized the man – there was no doubt about it after seeing the green coat and fedora hat.

It was Sin.

And in an instant, Ivory's heart got filled with joy. Seeing his loved one again was the best thing that could have happened right now. All the negative emotions his dreams had inflicted got now vanished. A wide, happy smile appeared on Ivory's face as he followed with his gaze how Sin was walking towards him. The taller man was pretty expressionless, as he tended to be, but Ivory was sure that he was also glad to meet again as well.

When Sin had come close enough to Ivory, the smaller man immediately closed him in an embrace, burying his face in Sin's chest. A few tears of happiness rolled down Ivory's cheek. He squeezed Sin for a little while, then backing away, ready to tell his significant other how happy he was to see him – but before Ivory could do that, he noticed something. There was blood on Sin's coat. Not excessively, but still. Ivory looked at the taller man's face a bit worriedly, sending him a look that asked the question his lips couldn't form.

“It's not my blood”, Sin said.

Of course it wasn't. He had taken another life today. Sometimes Ivory forgot this side of Sin. The ruthless mercenary. The beast. The monster. But he was positive that he could tame this beast. He dreamed of a day when he could get Sin quit these shady and dangerous jobs he was doing, so they could live together in peace and he didn't have to worry so much whether Sin was alive or not. But that day wasn't today.

Ivory gave a smile at Sin.

“Come here, you big dummy”, he said, grasping Sin's goatee with his hand.

Then Ivory pulled him in for a kiss. And Sin allowed this. Under the gray sky, they shared a short but passionate moment, their lips pressed against each other.

When they stopped kissing and their faces got some distance again, Ivory offered Sin a loving glance.

“Let's go home, shall we?” Ivory suggested.

Well, technically, it was just his home. But his doors were always open for Sin. And who knows… maybe someday it could be a home for both of them.

Sin nodded in agreement. Ivory smiled happily, giving his umbrella for Sin to hold. He was taller so in Ivory's opinion it made more sense for him to have it.

Then the two men started to head to Ivory's place, walking side by side, forgetting the rest of the world and devoting their time just for each other.