[Grimace x Gritty] Melt My Heart (Like Water Ice)

Melt My Heart (Like Water Ice)

Grimace slumps down onto the bench. He can still hear the muffled cheers through the concrete walls of the locker room. His eyes burn as they well up with tears. This wasn't how this night was supposed to go. First the Grimace shake fiasco, now this. So much for his return to the public eye. Grimace lowers his head into his purple hands, letting out a sob.

The door to the locker room opens with a slam. Grimace looks up, tears streaking his face, to see the last person he wanted to tonight: Gritty. There he stands – seven foot tall, fur a blazing orange hue, and a grandiose smile – that damn smile – that could arouse the spirits of an entire arena.

"What are you doing here?" Grimace chokes out, failing to hide the cracks in his voice, "There's thousands of fans out there waiting for you."

Gritty simply sighs, sliding next to Grimace on the bench without breaking his smile, "I could say the same thing to you."

"You saw what happened out there; I made a fool of myself, and everyone laughed."

"Dude, they loved you!" Gritty cups an orange hand to Grimace's cheek, "You're incredible," Gritty adds, an awestruck look in his large googly eyes.

"I'm washed up," Grimace whispers, "I haven't been useful since 2003. You're at the height of your career. You're a star. Everyone loves you." Grimace instinctively leans into Gritty's hand.

"Everyone loves me," Gritty huffs, "But nobody knows me. Well, except for you, Grim," he leans in to Grimace, giving a hesitant pause before closing the remaining distance between their lips. For just a moment, Grimace allows himself to indulge, sinking into the kiss. Suddenly, he's floating. It's addictive, intoxicating. It's everything he wants, but it's nothing but a fruitless fantasy. After all, the higher you float, the harder you crash back down to Earth.

Grimace pulls away, "Gritty. . . you know we can't do this- not again, I can't go through that again."

Gritty pulls Grimace right back, leaning his large hairy forehead on Grimace's smaller one, still cupping Grimace's smooth cheek in his hand, "I still want you. God, I never stopped wanting you, Grim," Gritty says, his breath warm across Grimace's lips, "Even when we weren't talking, I couldn't stop thinking about you. I missed you so much, I felt like a part of me died with our past. The only time I've ever felt worse was when my dad-" Gritty looks away sheepishly, "Well you know..."

"Oh, Gritty..." Grimace wants nothing more than to grab his furry orange face and kiss him again, but he stops himself.

"You know, it's funny," Gritty forces a laugh, "Everyone expects me to be like him. Loud, obnoxious, and ...aggressive. And sometimes it almost feels like I really am just like my old man."

"Gritty!" Without thinking, Grimace cups Gritty's soft face in his mitts, smashing their lips together with desperation. Gritty lets out a surprised sound, before kissing back. Grimace had forgotten how much he missed this feeling.

Grimace pulls away again, which is met with a disappointed grunt. Instead, Grimace buries his face into Gritty's chest. The tangerine fur tickling his cheeks like grass in a meadow, the faint smell of cheese fries wafting through his nose, the constant loud thumps of his heart he could feel through his chest; it all still gives Grimace the warm familiar comfort he long missed, like returning home after being away for so long. A sense of nostalgia that soothed as much as it stung.

"You are nothing like that mascot. Nothing." Grimace whispers into his chest.

Gritty says nothing, instead he runs a hand over Grimace's bald head. Grimace practically melts under his firm yet kind touch, cursing himself for how easy he breaks around Gritty.

"I mean it," Grimace insists to a smiling Gritty, "You're the kindest, hardest working mascot I've ever met. If you ever compare yourself to such a... such a vindictive... cruel.. evil man, I'll... I'll..." Grimace really doesn't know what he'll do, but he does know that Gritty better not do it again.

"I believe you, Grim." Gritty laughs, but this time it's genuine. He rests his chin on top of Grimace's head, letting out a heavy breath. "But I didn't follow you in here to dump my daddy issues on you. You always used to do this, lifting others up while you drown alone. And I'd get so mad at you for it. God, I was such an asshole," Gritty squeezes Grimace in his arms, "I missed you, you know. I missed us. But back then, you and I were two many worlds apart. We tried to force it so hard, but it was like putting pineapple on pizza."

Grimace groans against his chest, "Are you really comparing our relationship to food again? You must be really hungry," He teases, "And I told you, I actually like pineapple on pizza. At least compare it to pineapple on a Big Mac or something."

"You know, I used to think pineapple on pizza could never work. I mean, they seem to taste fine on their own. And the pineapple has always seemed too sweet, and a stupid pizza would only drown out the taste too much. A horrible match," Gritty's tone softens, "But that was so long ago. The pineapple got more tart in that time, and the pizza got a bit moldier. And I recently found out pineapple and pizza were going to be at the same event together. I think I'm ready to try it again. Maybe it will taste different with age. After this, Grim, let's go get some pineapple pizza together. What do you say?" The hope in his voice is like a bullet to Grimace's heart.

Gritty's arms tightened around Grimace, his body tightening. "I love you, Grim."

I love you too. The words die inside him, drowned in the memory of what they once had, and how it ended.

Grimace buries his face deeper into the sweaty Flyers jersey, and says, "Can we stay like this. Just for a while?"

Gritty smiles, leaning further into him. His arms wrap tightly around Grimace's waist, and Gritty's head is settled into the crook of Grimace's neck. Grimace now encased in a perfect furry hideaway, sheltered from the outside world. And they stay like that for what seems like both forever and no time at all.

The screams and cheers leaking in through the locker room walls have grown louder, the commentator's voices have become more excited and quick, and the sound of the scoreboard's clock has become more apparent.

"It sounds like the period's about to end. Should we get back out there?" Gritty asks, his arms still around Grimace. It's not clear how much time has passed, something about Gritty seems to make time unreadable. One thing is clear: Grimace doesn't want to move.

He groans in response, "I'll just embarrass myself again. Let's just stay here."

"Grim, we're going to have to go back out there eventually. I mean, we literally have contracts making us do this event, and I do not want to be sued by McDonald's." Gritty finally pulled away, standing up from the bench while stretching his arms up. "Man, you'd think with all this money we'd be able to afford some comfortable benches, but Coach says we don't get shit until we make it back to the Stanley Cup."

Grimace looks down at his ice skates, still sitting on the bench. His legs are shaking and heavy and his stomach feels as if it is doing flips.

Gritty places a hand on Grimace's shoulder and he immediately feels lighter, "Hey, don't worry. They'll love you out there," his hand slides down from his shoulder, landing in a purple hand. He squeezes, "And, you have me. I'm letting go of you this time, Grim. We do this together."

"Together." He parrots, Grimace squeezes back, standing up from the bench. His legs are still shaking, though a bit slower with each rub on his hand by Gritty's thumb. He takes one last deep breath, a quick glance at Gritty's unwavering smile – Grimace will never understand how he does that – and faces the door of the locker room.

They both walk hand-in-hand out into the hockey arena of thousands of screaming fans, and, for at least that moment, they're going to be okay.