Marcus' POV:

I stood motionless in front of this door.

I have no idea how long I've been here, just standing, hyping myself up for this conversation.

I clutched the envelope Nico had given me days prior closer to my chest.

Since then I'd done a lot of thinking...

Given the life I've lived, I've never really had to plan my own future as my own person.

My next steps were always given to me, so I never had to worry about what to do next.

But then Nico planned on sending me away with Khloe, and now he's given me complete freedom.

Freedom to live my own life the way I wanted.

As elated as it made me, it was daunting in a sense.

Jumping into a whole other lifestyle of unknown outcomes.

Of course, I've thought about it, it's rare that people in my situation don't.

It was something Carlo and I talked about quite often back when things weren't so... Intense you could say.

My eyes locked onto the handle of his room, the muscles in my shoulders tightening.

He was definitely part of everything that I'd been thinking about recently.

About how awful our predicament was.

I've been fighting with myself, trying to figure out how to feel now that it was over.

It soon became a huge moral dilemma that I still haven't figured out.

At the end of the day, it worked out.

Khloe became a vampire and now could live happily through the relationship with Nico that they'd been hiding.

Carlo played a large part in all of that happening.

But on the other hand, he deliberately went against everything I asked him to.

Despite the fact he was doing it to protect me... and things probably would have gotten a lot more hectic if he didn't succeed that day.

Even on top of all that I had to keep the most important fact clear in my head.

He was following orders. Just like he was meant to do.

Like we were meant to do.

Even if there were personal feelings on both of our sides on who we were protecting, our actions still weren't completely our choice.

And after everything was said and done. After everything turned out okay and everyone was happy, I found myself missing him.

I shook my head, trying to shake all the nerves that had built up from my procrastination with it.

It didn't necessarily work, but I stepped up towards the door anyway.

I only let myself hesitate for a brief second before knocking.

There was no response for a while. Not even a hint of anyone moving on the other side.

Which I found strange, I was sure that he would be in here.

So I knocked again, still resulting in nothing.

"Carlo, please," my voice came out broken, only now being grateful that our rooms didn't have the soundproof luxury that the vampire's did.

I heard a reaction almost immediately, the sound of running steps approaching the door.

The door flew open so fast that I took a step back.

Then I finally saw him, his eyes frantically looking me over like he was trying to make sure that it was actually me.

I found myself mirroring his actions as he quickly tried to straighten himself.

Frankly put, he looked awful.

I could tell he hadn't showered in days from the mess of his hair alone, and the darkness under his eyes told me he'd been missing out on sleep on top of that.

The puffiness of his eyes and the flushed look on his face hinted at even more.

Not to mention the still visible cuts on his face from Khloe.

I don't think I'd ever seen him so unkempt.

I could hardly even recognize him.

His mouth shifted as he scrambled to come up with something to say.

"Marcus I... I um-" He paused, head turning so that he way now looking at the floor, "The Lord told me what happened... With Khloe I mean, a-and I wanted to come to find you and talk to you after that but I didn't know if you wanted to see me again."

Nothing about this was the Carlo I'd seen so far.

He was usually so confident, so put together and determined.

But now he looked like He'd been shattered and hadn't even tried to begin putting himself together.

In all honesty, it hurt to see.

He attempted a quick fix of his hair, but I don't think it worked the way he wanted it to.

"What I said earlier... everything I said earlier, shit, everything I did earlier I-I'm so sorry. I promise that I trusted you when you said that you'd be fine but I... I guess I wanted to be sure of it. I didn't want to leave your life in the hands of someone else. I didn't trust your life in the hands of someone else, and I know it's not my place to think that way."

I could see him fighting back tears, despite how he still wouldn't look me in the eye.

"Even if it all ended up working out I still," He hesitated, "I acted impulsively a-and I ended up hurting you and Khloe and Nicolas and I-"

He stopped as I took a step forward, setting a hand on his shoulder.

Finally, he looked at me, eyes wide in unsurity at my action.

I returned his look with a soft smile as I sent the envelope on the small table he had beside his door.

His breath hitched as I made my next move, moving my arms under his and around his back, setting my head between his neck and shoulder.

He was deathly still for the next few seconds, but finally, the tension in his body steadily began to relax.

His hands tentatively brushed my back before promptly returning my embrace, a quick sigh of relief passing his lips.

I think I felt myself let one of my own out as well.

I missed this. This feeling of being right here with him.

"Marcus I-"

"It's okay," I began, "Forget about it. Please God can we just forget about it?" I pleaded.

The situation we were put into forced us against each other. It forced all the stress, all the tension, and all the stain on the relationship we had built when it was just the two of us.

I just want that peace between us back.

"Really?" He asked like that was something he'd been desperately wanting.

I nodded against him.

"We were pawns in a game that didn't have to include us, but it did and we had to do what we had to do," I pulled back, keeping my hands on his upper arms. "I know that if we never got dragged into that things would be different, but luckily it ended in such a way where we can start over completely. No lives at stake running in the background this time."

He rose a brow at my wording.

"Completely?" He almost sounded worried.

I just let out a small laugh, reaching over to grab the envelope and hand it to him.

We released each other as he took it, and I began to explain as he looked it over.

"Nico planned on sending me away with Khloe since things were going south fast, but since those plans have changed in the last few days, he decided to let me keep the house he was going to send me and had granted me my freedom, and basically enough cash to last me till I die."

Carlo froze, his mouth agape.

"Freedom..." He repeated, his eyes and voice suddenly saddening, "You're leaving?"

"We're leaving," I corrected him, "I asked Nico if I could take you with me."

"And he said yes?" He perplexed.

I guess he figured that Nico would have an eternal grudge against him for what he did.

Honestly, I did too.

"He did. We can finally live how we always talked about, and come visit whenever we want. Just the two of us... if you want to of course."

He just stared, stunned at the envelope.

I couldn't imagine how many thoughts were running through his head.

I could barely keep track of my own when Nico had this conversation with me.

It's strange realizing your whole life could just change with one simple gesture.

With one fateful invitation.

We'd always joke about how we'd live if we could leave this place and live by our own accord.

And in every scenario, we were together.

To think that now that could be a reality, and I could still come and visit the friends I made here.

"Yes...," He finally said, an elated smile finally lifting the corners of his mouth, "Marcus, oh my god, yes!"

His arms found themselves around me again before my feet were no longer on the floor from his burst of excitement.

It wasn't long until we both found ourselves in a fit of joyous laughter, celebrating our future together for the moment as if nothing else in the world existed.

Just the two of us.

Hands intertwined, the envelope thrown onto his bed, just finally enjoying a moment of tranquility.

No stress of the past, no weight of the present, or fear of the future.

Just us, right here, and for as long as the future will hold.

Our excitement eventually settled, that glee in his eyes that I'd missed so much finally returning, and that smile that I hadn't even realized I yearned for.

Those honey brown eyes that I hadn't even realized were approaching until I left his hand on my cheek.

I didn't realize it until I felt his lips gently caress my own for a moment that seemed a little too quick.

His eyes were wide as he quickly drew back, his typically light brown skin now sporting a bright red.

"Oh my god um I- uh I'm sorry I-I didn't mean- I just got wrapped up in the moment and-," He took a step back, a hand slapping his mouth before a muffled string of curses left it.

He took a few more steps back, his embarrassment becoming more and more prominent by the second.

Meanwhile I had to take a moment just to process what had just happened.

He just... Woah...

I felt my hand come up to touch where his was, feeling the new heat that it was giving off and only now realizing how fast my heart was.

Yet the only thing I could think to do was laugh at this whole thing.

"Why the hell are you laughing?!" Carlo questioned.

"Why the hell are you so embarrassed," I fired back.

"Because that was a bad kiss!" He insisted, the redness of his face still going strong, "I had one planned that was so much better before the situation got messy but I got caught up and just," He finished his sentence with a long groan, making me laugh even harder.

I actually found his reaction to be quite cute.

Especially since I thought that I would have always been the one to get flustered easily.

"Don't beat yourself up," I began walking towards him," I can pretend that didn't happen and you can try again." I teased.

I was surprised to see him think about that before closing the distance between un, and grabbing my hand.

"Stay with me here tonight then? Let me make up for it." He said,"We have a lot to talk about anyway."

My breath stopped dead in my throat seeing the now serious expression on his face.

"Take a shower first and you have a deal."