Wrath and Love

Wrath and Love Chapter Eleven

The ocean seemed to consume the night's sky like a giant amoeba absorbing its stars ever so slowly in successive waves; it had a patience like death with the passion of life. Todd shivered, both at the thought and in the wake of a breeze that had just found its way to the deck of the President's personal yacht.

Pepito had decided that they should spend the last few days of his two week vacation at sea, and Todd had to admit that it was pretty nice. Being so far out from land, where all of the lights and noise were no more, was like being alone with the universe and the rhythm of the natural world...even if they were surrounded on all sides by other boats belonging to the Coast Guard and Pepito's security detail...

“Hey.”

Todd jumped at the sudden sound, turning around quickly to face Pepito as his back hit the railing. “H-hey.”

“Are you aware that it's well past 2:00 in the morning? You missed s'mores on the top deck.” Smirking a little at how lost Todd still managed to get in his own thoughts, and how jittery he could still be, even after all those years, the half-demon came closer.

“Oh. Is that my hint to go to bed? I promise I'm not going to jump overboard in hopes of making it back to shore and catching a ride out of town with hustlers who double as conspiracy theorists.” He smiled at the other's eye roll.

“I suppose you can sleep out here if you'd like...under two conditions. First, I will be joining you. Second, you have to share my blanket.” Pulling said blanket from his own shoulders, he draped it around Todd's instead, tugging the ends that were still in his hands closer so that they were both offered some of its protection.

Todd slipped his hand between Pepito's arm and back to hold the ends of the blanket together, secretly thankful for its presence. It wasn't exactly cold off the coast of southern California, even in late February, but the wind chill could make it feel that way so far out. He let out a small chuckle. “Are you really that paranoid?”

“Heh. No. But you always have to point out new methods of escaping that I hadn't considered. I mean, seriously, what is that? Some passive aggressive way of psychologically torturing me?”

“What?” The man shot the other a brief look of incredulity before letting his head rest against his sweater-clad shoulder as he looked back out to sea. “You started it, Pep. Besides, I think it's just a veiled cry for attention.”

“Ah. Well, it works, apparently.”

“Um-hum.”

Pepito smiled softly at Todd's tired, but mostly content, voice, as he raised one tentative hand to the other's back under the blanket. “Are you okay? You've been out here quite a while.”

“Yeah. I just didn't want to take this view for granted.”

“I'm not...interrupting anything, am I?”

“Like a prayer? No. Not really.” Todd raised his head without removing it from the shoulder. “Would you be mad if you were?”

Pepito sighed, looking at the clear sky that had had his friend so preoccupied moments ago. “Not...mad.” Okay, so that wasn't entirely true. He knew that deep down, there was a part of him that was still angry at Todd for choosing the Resistance and the Christian God over him, but that part was going to have to be ignored for now. Keeping the other man was more important than that anger, and he couldn't afford to rehatch all those same fights when he needed to be focusing on his new plan. So far, things were going quite well, but he didn't exactly have an infinite amount of time to bring Todd over to his side before the incarnation and the final battle.

“Jealous?” Todd raised a teasing brow, poking fun at one of those old Valentines Day jokes in hopes of lightening the mood a little more.

“Ha. Maybe.”

“Don't think I haven't noticed that you always seem to call me just before bed time.”

“Don't be silly, Amigo. That's simply the only convenient time that I have free. Do you want me to start calling you in the middle of the night?”

“...no.”

Snorting at the expected reply, Pepito let the conversation almost die before picking it back up more seriously. “Maybe I am a little jealous. Back in skool, I used to regard our friendship as kind of...sacred almost, and now your giving that devotion to someone else. But really, I think I'm more worried than anything.”

“Worried? Because of what you said about praying being a spiritual crutch?”

“Partly. I know you don't want to hear this, and that it's hard to let go of something that you've come to rely on, but the things that you think are wrong with my administration...the one you pray to isn't any better. There are things in the Bible, things done for fear and power, that even I wouldn't do.” He gave the other critical look. “If you're really still thinking for yourself, don't you think that you should hold 'God' to at least the same standard that you're holding me to? Just because you give someone life doesn't mean you that they belong to you or that you can mistreat them without fault. Do you really want to belong to someone that thinks like that?”

Todd took a step back, biting his lower lip. Those were actually some good points. It wasn't as if he had never considered them before...there was a time when he was younger when he had considered the Christian God and Devil to be on about equal ground morally. “I don't want to belong to anyone, exactly. And...you're right about the Old Testament God...for the most part. But I think...I think that maybe God can change, does change over time. Just look at how different the New Testament is from the Old.”

“Oh, it's different in some ways alright, if by different you mean that it takes the degradation of the self to all new levels. Christianity has always been the religion of sheep and slaves.” He decided that it was best not to mention that Todd was currently breaking at least one of Jesus' rules from the new testament just by being his friend.

“Always or just now that you're in control? And not all of the people in the camps are even Christian, you know.” Todd moved to cross his arms over his chest, accidentally stealing Pepito's blanket completely as he did so.

“That's not what I meant, Todd.”

“Oh, I know, Pepito.” He jerked the patchwork blanket from his person, balling it up and tossing it back to the Antichrist...and feeling kind of bad when he recognized it as one that Rosemary had quilted for her son before he had left for college. “What you meant was that they don't hold the whims of the individual over the needs of the many or consider greed to be a virtue. You say think different, but what you really mean is that everyone should think like you, that everyone should hate God and-”

“I don't hate God, Amigo. I can't. He gave me you.” Pepito gave the other a small grin when that one comment shut him up instantly.

Brow furrowing, Todd looked at Pepito for a long time, neither of them saying a word, before he finally broke the gaze, looking at the stars again as his lips curved up a little against his will. That was just...the nicest thing that anyone had ever, ever said to him, and coming from the Antichrist...it made him feel warm even without the blanket. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. But I'd appreciate it if you would keep it to yourself. I have a reputation to maintain after all. And I'm not saying that I like him or anything. I'm still-” his voice died in his throat when Todd suddenly leaned over to press a short kiss to his cheek, “What was that?”

“A 'thank you'?” Todd looked down, suddenly feeling self-conscious. It had only been a cheek kiss, but it had been a long time since he and Pepito had been on those kind of terms. Maybe Pepito thought he was disgusting now...now that he had “betrayed him”, now that he prayed, now that...now that what had happened in the work camp had happened.... After the last one, he kind of found himself disgusting. “I'm sorry if that was too-”

“No sorries.” Recovering from the shock, Pepito captured one of the hands that had fallen to Todd's sides in his own, brining to his lips to return the gesture. “And you're welcome.”

Todd meet Pepito's eyes again, and there was another long silence as they both stood there holding hands with the wind wiping their hair and rustling their clothes. He was still a little embarrassed. It seemed strange that those kisses, that being so physically and emotionally close, hadn't seemed weird to his high school self.

When the quiet was interrupted by Todd turning to the left, away from the wind, to sneeze, Pepito laughed. Pulling him closer, he released the other's hand to cover him with the blanket again. “You know, I have a skylight in my room, if you're really only out here for the view.”

Accepting the quilt yet again, Todd raised a brow at the other's words.

Pepito shrugged. “Mother will bitch at me for months if you get sick out here, and I know you're not a fan of quick, magical healings.”

“Alright, I guess.” Todd frowned at the floor of the deck. A skylight wasn't going to be the same, and, though Pepito did have a small point about him coming down with something, he was hardly ever afforded with such an opportunity. Still, he let the other take his hand again to lead him down to the cabin. They stopped by his own small room so that he could change into his night clothes before heading down the hall to the biggest bedroom, which was tucked right against the bow of the ship.

Holding the door open for Todd, and closing it after they were both inside, Pepito watched the other man look around the room, which was adorned with rich furniture and contrasting bare walls. “I want to show you something. Stand there, in front of the waterbed, but facing the wall.”

“O-kay.” Todd laughed a little to himself, but complied all the same. He was bored after only a minute of staring at the blank wall, but just as he was about to look back something happened. The lights went out and then there were suddenly no more walls, including floor and ceiling! He could see the framework of the ship in front of the boat and on the sides! “Ack!” He flailed, falling back onto the waterbed, which made his stomach unhappy as its waves went against those of the water mass that was currently about half way up the apparently invisible walls of the room.

Watching the waves rise and fall against the bow as a few stray clouds moved overhead and making out several nocturnal fish swimming below the boat's floor, he finally let out a breath that he hadn't been aware he was holding. He scooted back to the edge of the bed, testing the transparent floor with his socked toes before getting back to his feet. Cautiously, he stepped forward, walking across what looked like almost nothing to raise his hand to the cool surface of the wall. “Pepito, this is amazing.”

“Thanks, Amigo.” The half-demon shot him a large smile as if the compliment had been intended for himself instead of his yacht when he looked back in awe, obviously not having expected to find Pepito changing into his own pajamas. It was ridiculously juvenile, but making Todd blush had been one of his favorite pastimes since middle skool, and now he found himself falling back on many of their old habits.

The man shook his head as he turned back around, away from the semi-naked Pepito. The Antichrist had never really had a sense of modesty, and there was no reason for him to expect one to crop up now. “Isn't this kind of dangerous?”

“Not really.” Pepito pulled up the pants to his pajamas before slipping a black shirt over head. “Not as long as we're maintaining a relatively constant position with the guards making sure no one else gets past their circle to crash into us. The transparent mode is only setup to work for the bow, and it's used sparingly in daylight so faster moving fish won't ram us or anything.”

“Ah.” When Pepito made no further reply, Todd continued to stare out into the ocean in silence until he could feel the repetition of the waves start to lull him into a near hypnotic state. His body leaned back with the ship, but not forward again, causing him to loose his footing. Luckily, he managed to catch himself after a few stumbles, at last deciding that it was time for bed.

Climbing in beside Pepito, he lay close enough to share the quilt because the other man was already laying on the bed's covers and it wasn't very cool inside the cabin anyway. He let out a contented sigh when the water pouch settled down from his movements, finding a rhythm with the current. Not only did it add to the underwater effect of the room, but it also seemed to move less overall than less elastic objects that did not bend to the ocean's command. “This really is nice.”

“I'm glad you like it.” Pepito turned his head to take in the man whose current position matched his own: Todd was lying on his back, his head resting on an overstuffed pillow with the quilt up to his midsection. His sleepy eyes had found the stars once again, this time through the skylight, but seemed to slip closed every now and then with the massive weight of tiredness. One hand lay atop the blanket between them, and Pepito took it into his own for safe keeping as he looked back up himself. “Todd?”

“Humm?”

“You've enjoyed my presence over the last couple weeks, yes?”

Todd gave the half-demon a confused look. “Of course.” That really should have been obvious...maybe a little too obvious. The two had spent most of Pepito's vacation together, and they had only had a few arguments. They still had a long way to go to achieve what he had told the other that he wanted in the Guard Station, but they had made a great deal of progress, so much so that to Todd the last two weeks felt more like months.

“I've been thinking.... My birthday is only about three weeks away, and there's going to be a big celebration in the Central Park, and I thought...well, I'd really like you to come.”

“O-oh,” Todd glopped, “I...is it...”

“It's a public celebration, so you don't have to be initiated or anything, and since it's so close, you could spend most of March with me in New York.”

“Pepito...” Todd let out a deep breath, “you know that it's not...it's not that I don't want to, but-”

“But the praying, right?” Pepito rolled his eyes at the stars, but didn't change his conversational tone. “I've decided that, if you're willing to agree to the other stipulations, I am willing to overlook that...as long as you keep your prayers of a personal nature and they don't involve me or my reign or violate the other rules in any way.”

Looking down for a few seconds, Todd inspected the blanket as if it was some kind of divining tool that could explain the unfolding events to him. If Pepito was willing to make that much of a compromise, he was kind of obligated to accept it or risk offending him horribly and making any similar offers seem pointless and weak. Plus, Pepito had been inviting him to his birthday parties since they were thirteen, and this one was, supposedly, not specifically of the Satanic ritual variety. Of course, there was also the silly dread that had been growing in the back of his mind for when the other would leave again and probably not make another appearance for another two months.

“Alright.” Todd met his gaze again, tightening his hold on the other's hand. He smiled softly as his answer launched Pepito into a rambling explanation of all the things that they could do over the next couple weeks, letting his eyes close as the words fell into all the right, worn grooves in his brain.