PRETTY VENOM, CORPSE HUSBAND ✓

𝙭𝙭𝙭𝙫 ── sweetheart, you're no fun.

of course, there were lingering thoughts in their mind that berated them, yelling obscene lies that clouded their judgement for a while. roisin would believe that axel only liked her because she was some sort of mystery to him. because he couldn't quite figure her out, like a rubix cube scratched from years of use that had never been completed. and once he figured her out, he would realise that her colours weren't as bright as he thought they were.

but that night at the edge of the city... she revealed tormented parts of herself for him to untangle like unkempt headphones and once he was finished, he didn't run away. he ran with her, alongside the pain she had felt. roisin knew that he wasn't going anywhere. that he was falling in love with her.

axel worried about many things daily, but there was one thing they had in common. they could all end with roisin gone. leaving him as fast as she came, realising that the guy she had known for a few months at most was nothing but a living, breathing wreck. problems with his eyesight, with his joints, with his eating habits and voice. with his family. his mental state, his anxiety, his cripplingly low self-esteem. she didn't have to put up with that. she had guys and girls lining up for miles to date her, all of them endlessly better than him.

what axel didn't realise until the morning after was that roisin didn't want anyone else. she didn't want the pretty girl with a perfect life or the handsome guy who could give her the world. she wanted him. he couldn't understand why, but the way she gazed up at him against the background of tangled bedsheets... he knew. she was falling in love with him.

all they did was look at each other. he was memorising the soft curve of her nose and the dainty arch of her brow, her rosy cheeks and gleaming chocolate eyes. tracing his fingers across the tattoos on her shoulder, a cherub with a fractured wing and a balloon stretched close to its breaking point. a shattered wine bottle. she was thinking how wonderful it was to wake up to this. to his unruly, dark hair falling into his sleepy eyes. to his tanned chest - darker now that they had spent time outside or lounging in bed in full view of the sun. axel couldn't remember the last time he had left his house without feeling anxious before he met rosie.

"you know how i told the girls that i had wine in my house for aesthetic purposes?" she said softly, not wanting to break the bubble they had formed.

"and frankie berated you?" he replied. his voice was deeper in the morning. it sent a shiver down her bare back.

"yeah." she glanced away from him. "well, that was a lie."

axel stayed silent. she wanted to talk, he knew that, but he wasn't one to push.

"i had it because i... well, i guess i liked knowing that i had power over it. it made me feel like i was in control of myself and my addiction. i didn't realise that olyvia would pop up and shatter all i'd built at that moment. i just..." she paused for a long second. "i think i wanted an excuse to open it up, to- to drink. and she just happened to show up at the right time."

when rosie fell silent, she rested her head back onto his chest, where it had been as she fell asleep the night before. the soft rise and fall of axel's breathing under her cheek made her feel warm, and the beating of his heart under her fingertips reminded her that this moment was real. not something she had desperately dreamt up. not even her wildest dreams could live up to the night she had spent with him and the morning she had blissfully woken up to.

with one hand drawing patterns on the length of her side, his arm cradling her body, he let the other gently tuck strands of unruly blonde hair behind her ear. rosie turned her head ever so slightly, pressing a kiss to the palm of his hand with her eyes closed sleepily. he smiled. he smiled so much that he thought his cheeks would burst. maybe it was the wrong time to be smiling, but with her in his arms, it was impossible to keep a straight face.