тнe αrт oғ lιvιɴɢ well αɴd тнe αrт oғ dyιɴɢ well αre oɴe ♥

[∂яινє му ωσℓƒ ωιℓ∂ ♥]

{ lacey only pls. ♡ }

It was strange, being in this lonely apartment. Ever since Leo had left to academy, the place had seemed empty. The rift between he and Ross had grown larger, now held out in the open since their son wasn't around, and it felt like an anvil was resting on his shoulders. Why were they still together, if they couldn't even be in the same room as one another?

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

Ross trudged in through the door, briefcase in one hand and their mail in the other. He hung up his jacket and left his shoes by the door as he shuffled through the mail, "We got a letter from Leo," Ross called to Sky, heading into the kitchen.

[∂яινє му ωσℓƒ ωιℓ∂ ♥]

Sky stood, looking drained, and walked over, holding out his hand for the parcel.

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

Ross started to hand it to him, but paused, "Sky, what's wrong? Have you been sleeping alright?"

[∂яινє му ωσℓƒ ωιℓ∂ ♥]

He sighed quietly. "Yes. Just give it to me." He stretched his hand out farther.

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

"Geez, you don't have to be bossy about it," Ross muttered, laying the envelope in his hand.

[∂яινє му ωσℓƒ ωιℓ∂ ♥]

"It's horrible being drilled by you." He grunted in annoyance, opening the envelope and pulling out the letter, leaning against the counter.

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

"I wasn't drilling you!" Ross sighed, rubbing his face, "I'm just worried because you look exhausted."

The letter wasn't super long, but it was clear that Leo seemed to be getting along fine at Academy. His loopy handwriting blabbered on and on about his classes and his friends, so it seemed that it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.

[∂яινє му ωσℓƒ ωιℓ∂ ♥]

Sky smiled a bit while reading the letter, glad that his boy was fitting in well and wasn't regarding the school with the same attitude he was before, and quickly folded the letter, handing it to Ross so he could read it as well. It wouldn't be kind of him to not let the other parent know of their son's good time. Turning, he walked out of the kitchen and into the bathroom to take a shower- he didn't quite smell as clean as he wanted to be, and he needed time to be alone, to sort out his thoughts and figure out just what he wanted to do about his strained relationship with Ross. Was it really worth continuing to feel depressed about it, or was it just time to cut the umbilical and say sionara?

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

Ross leaned back against the counter, though he watched Sky as he walked away. He was used to this..distance. Sky had been like this since he first met him. They seemed to always go through periods where their relationship was strained. Ross had no idea /why/ though. He didn't love him any less, he still wanted him. Why did it seem like Sky was just pushing away?

[∂яινє му ωσℓƒ ωιℓ∂ ♥]

Meanwhile, in the shower, the blonde leaned against the brick wall, staring at his reflection against the dark door. His towel hung over it, providing a dark backdrop which only reflected his minimally malnourished body even more. What was he doing to himself? Because of this now unhealthy relationship, he was taking it out on himself. And maybe it was his fault, but that wasn't any reason to do something like this to himself. If this was the only way he would react to the stress in their relationship, then he wasn't worth being in a relationship in the first place.

Nodding his head in sudden determination, pink lips pulled down in a straight frown, he hurried through his shower and was soon turning off the water, drying off his hair and the rest of his body before putting on a robe and stepping outside, pausing only for a moment to adjust to the cooler temperatures out of the restroom. Walking the rest of the way over to the male, knowing Ross more than likely needed to head to work soon, he rested his hands upon the slightly taller man's chest and pecked his cheek in respective farewell.

"We need to talk when you get home. We have some things we need to go over." He pulled away and looked at him in the eye, expression nothing but serious before he padded into the bedroom to get dressed.

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

Ross opened his mouth slightly and blinked, "A-Alright.." he replied, though his voice was probably too low for Sky to hear. That sudden attitude switch came as a surprise, but he did agree that they needed to talk.

[∂яινє му ωσℓƒ ωιℓ∂ ♥]

Once Ross had exited the premises, Sky sighed quietly and picked up the pills on his nightstand. No, he wasn't going to overdose or do something stupid like that. They were just pills that had a dosage on them- he needed to take them every day, otherwise he would go through more mood swings like this. No, Ross didn't know, and he was determined not to let his current husband find out. More than likely it would spark some war. But he was starting to wonder now… Was it really him, all those years ago, that had fallen in love with Ross, or was it doped up Sky, who didn't know what he was doing?

He had taken medication all of his life, ever since he was twelve years old, and no one besides his parents had known. He seemed like such a normal child, teenager, and adult. Granted, sometimes stress made it so that the medication didn't have any effect, but most of the time he was just a normal guy. No one knew of the psycho living underneath. He winced and rested a hand on his forehead, bowing his head and sitting on the edge of the foot of the bed. No one knew the monster who was lurking inside of his own soul…

And what would Leo say if he found out about his 'mother's true self? Would he be horrified and leave, or would he stay? He shook his head and inhaled a calming breath. He would more than likely run away in fear. He was still young. He didn't understand anything about duty.

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

TIME SKIP

Work was stressful, like usual, though Ross had mainly gone through the day with Sky's words bouncing around in his head. He felt uneasy, like something was going to blow up when he got home. This talk had been a long time coming, so he was prepared to speak his mind and explain how he felt to his husband. Communication was key, wasn't it?

When he arrived home, Ross did his usual routine of putting his things away, leaving his briefcase in their room instead of taking it to the living room for further work. "Sky?" Ross called, unbuttoning the cuffs on his shirt and rolling the sleeves up.

[∂яινє му ωσℓƒ ωιℓ∂ ♥]

However, things were a bit different. Yes, things would more than likely blow up, but Sky was determined not to let any sort of argument rage for longer than ten seconds. The drawers that once held his clothing were now emptied and the fashion was folded neatly and placed in a small suitcase, his makeup was thrown away, his car keys and house key sat on the center of the table as if a waiting signal, and he was currently sweeping up the long locks of blonde hair from the bathroom floor and placing it in the garbage. He looked at himself in the mirror, blinking blue eyes before tilting his head. It was a definite change. No more pretty, feminine Sky. His long locks were replaced with short, white hair that was minimally shaved with a number one blade at the nap of his neck, and his hair was styled in spikes upward to give him a more masculine look. He liked it; it was like how it was when he was ten years old or so, but this made him look more mature. His feminine, silky clothing and the robe that he wore was now in the trash, taking up quite a bit of space, and he was wearing a simple black cotton shirt, dark boot-cut jeans, some dark converse, and bracelets adorning his arms. There was only a bit of BB Cream and eye liner on his face, and his piercings were removed and thrown away, allowing the wounds to heal over. He grabbed a light weight leather jacket from the back of the toilet, one that he hadn't worn in a long while, and pulled it on, actually feeling relieved that his once long hair wasn't getting caught in the back of it and tickling his neck. A smile graced slightly plump pink lips, exposing white teeth in the mirror.

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

Ross frowned and searched the house until he found Sky in the bathroom. He stopped in the doorway, mouth falling open, "You cut your hair?" he asked after a moment. Not that it was a bad thing, but he'd never expected him to do that.

[∂яινє му ωσℓƒ ωιℓ∂ ♥]

He turned around and smiled at him. "Yep!" He clapped him on the shoulder and walked past him, out into the dining room. "The house key is there, the car keys are there. You can sell the car- you already have one, right?"

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

"Whoa, whoa. Wait. You said we needed to talk- so you can't just run away like this," Ross whirled around and followed him.

[∂яινє му ωσℓƒ ωιℓ∂ ♥]

"This isn't running away." He looked at him. "If I was running away, I would have already been gone by now. Why would I run away knowing you're here?" He shook his head with a chuckle. "Sky gets back from academy in the next week for break, so he's going to need his room cleaned up and prepared for his arrival."

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

"Well, where are you going?" Ross challenged, still not going to accept the fact that Sky was just going to up and leave, "At least stay and talk to me!"