Archive of Our Own

Dr. Xeno H. Wingfield had been on the receiving end of a lot of weird looks over the course of his lifetime.

He had received odd looks from both the children his age and his classmates when he began his undergraduate classes at the tender age of 11. He had received odd looks from his parents when he had insisted that, no, he wasn't interested in any of the girls they had tried to set him up with, as he was already dating his male best friend, and no, he didn't care that they thought Stanley was a bad influence.

He received an odd look from the clerk at the courthouse when he refused to say 'till death do us part' as part of their wedding vows, instead saying 'never shall we part'. Stanley, however, just chuckled and repeated the same, which pleased Xeno greatly. He received odd looks from his coworkers constantly for various reasons, from his attitude to his ideas to the leather chokers he wore on his neck.

He also received odd looks from those around him when, upon finally being presented with Stanley's half-blown-up corpse, he didn't shed a single tear.

He could feel the stares boring into them as he stared at the coffin draped in a large American flag. He could feel their eyes filled with confusion and concern. He could feel the caustic waves of pity in the hands that found themselves heavy on his shoulders, but still he couldn't find it in himself to cry.

People whispered around him about 'denial' and 'shock' and offers of grief counseling and home-cooked meals bludgeoned Xeno like hail. It was pointless. All of it was pointless.

All of them were fools.

Xeno couldn't blame them, he supposed, as he watched them lower the coffin into the ground. The dogs Stanley called his friends stood nobly and saluted for him, their eyes brimming with tears as they watched their fallen comrade descend into the earth. Xeno's eyes remained dry as he scanned the world around them.

The whispers changed after that. Words like 'heartless' and 'psychopath' floated around as the funeral came to a close, which Xeno easily ignored. But what he was less able to ignore were the whispers questioning if Xeno had even loved Stanley at all. Heat flashed throughout his entire body, and it took every bit of willpower in him not to lash out and attack the ignorant fools who would dare insinuate such a thing.

They were all fools.

All of them.

Their tears were the ultimate betrayal of Stanley's trust, his loyalty, and they dared to utter that it was Xeno who didn't care for him? That it was Xeno who was wrong? Those selfish, self-centered, inelegant fools. Every last one of them. Stanley had done everything for them, given them everything he had, even died for them, and now? Now, when he needed them most, they were just going to give up?!

Well then. It was time for Xeno to once more prove to Stanley, to everyone, that Xeno was the only person Stanley could truly rely on in this world. He was the only one who could save Stanley in his hour of need.

'Never shall we part'.

So, when his coworkers at NASA invited him over to stay with them for the night, he accepted. And when they tried to get him to 'open up', he did. He spun them a lovely tale of how none of it felt real, how he still just couldn't wrap his head around the fact that Stanley was 'really gone'. How not being able to see his corpse made it feel like it wasn't really him in that box.

And they cooed and they awwed and they wrapped their arms around him and did all the things people are supposed to do to comfort someone grieving. It made Xeno sick. Sick enough, he didn't even feel bad when he laced their food with sleeping pills and pretended to fall asleep while they all passed out on the couches and beds of the home.

Then, with his alibi secured, he easily slipped out of the apartment through the fire escape and donned the boots, pants, hoodie, gloves, and face mask he'd stored away along with his backpack of supplies and drove to the graveyard in the used car he'd bought specifically for this purpose.

It took much longer than Xeno would have liked to dig up Stanley's grave and crack it open to get to his corpse, but not having to hack any security cameras did speed up the process a bit at least. Xeno paused for the first time in this entire process as he finally got a glimpse of Stanley's body for the first time. There was a reason it was a closed-casket funeral after all.

Then, Xeno gritted his teeth and began the arduous process of lifting Stanley up and out of his grave. He was much lighter than Xeno remembered, which made sense considering all the parts Stan was missing. Xeno had tried to lift Stanley a few times before, the most recent time being after Stanley had finished basic training. He'd lifted Xeno into his arms and spun him around like a princess and her elegant knight.

Xeno, wanting to return the favor, wrapped his arms around Stanley's ribs and tried to lift with all his might. Stanley hadn't budged even an inch.

The memory of Stan's laughing face was all the fuel Xeno needed to lift his body out of the grave and gently place him in the black body bag Xeno had brought with him. As tenderly as he could, Xeno zipped up the bag and dragged Stanley a few meters away from the grave. Then he quickly refilled the grave and patted down the dirt so that, hopefully, nobody would notice anything amiss.

And if they did, that was what the alibi and burner car were for.

Xeno dragged the bag and his own exhausted body to the car before laying Stanley down in the backseat, carefully securing each of the seat belts in the back around the body bag so that Stanley would be safe on the drive home. Then, he unceremoniously dumped the rest of his supplies in the trunk of the car and began to drive home.

Xeno, as much as he wanted to slam his foot to the floor and speed back to their home as quickly as possible, made certain to obey every traffic law this country had ever conceived of. He would not give the police a single reason to pull him over, as he doubted they would be sympathetic to his plight once they spotted the dead soldier's corpse in his back seat.

Still, the smell of grave dirt and decay set Xeno's nerves on edge. It was a much different scent to the tobacco and earthy musk Stan usually smelled like, and they were indicators that permanent damage was already beginning. God, he wished he could have rushed the funeral so he could get his hands on Stan's body even sooner, but this would have to do.

It was fine. Whatever was wrong, he would fix it. He would fix Stan.

'Never shall we part.'

Their marital home was a small mansion on the outskirts of the city, nestled in a nice bit of lush forest. It had taken a small fortune to build, but fortunately, both he and Stan made quite good salaries. Initially, they had built the place far away from the city for the pure reason of light pollution. That way, the custom observatory nestled on the top floor wouldn't be disturbed by the artificial lights and could better peer into the depths of the universe.

Now, however, it was a boon for a completely different reason. Now, regardless of what Xeno was to do in their home, he was unlikely to be disturbed.

He pulled the car into the garage next to the gurney he had left in preparation, before carefully carrying the body bag Stanley was in and laying it down on the gurney. He gritted his teeth as he pushed Stanley through the door to the garage and into the laboratory connected to it directly.

It was another thing they had designed for the sake of convenience, just like the location of the house. Much of the equipment Xeno outfitted his lab with was bulky and heavy, so it just made sense to put the laboratory in the basement next to the garage for ease of transport. Now, it was convenient as the earth cooled the walls, making it much easier to keep the lab at the required 2 degrees Celsius for optimal preservation of Stan's body.

Xeno pushed the gurney into the middle of the room before stopping.

He felt it like an itch under his skin. The urge to start working, to dive into his work and not stop until the problem was fixed, until Stanley was fixed. But he couldn't. He had to get back to his coworkers and make pretend he had slept through the night.

So, instead of unzipping Stanley's body bag completely and starting the long process of fixing what was broken in his lover, he merely unzipped the bag until Stan's face was visible.

"I have to go for now, Stan, but I'll be back," Xeno told him as he carefully slotted the remaining half of Stanley's dislocated jaw back into place, if only temporarily. Then, he bent down over his love and gently kissed him.

Xeno smiled into Stan's lips, then pulled away, "I'm going to fix you. I promise."

Xeno quit his job at NASA.

He would freely admit it did sadden him to leave, but when he applied for bereavement leave and was only allowed 2 weeks, he knew there wasn't any other option. His boss tried to convince him to stay, but really, this was a long time coming, even if Stanley hadn't needed him.

So he left.

Then, he began the long process of taking stock of Stanley's body.

His condition wasn't great, it wasn't terrible either, but it certainly would have been better if he had been able to get a hold of Stanley's body sooner than he had. Still, it was manageable, if horribly inelegant.

First, he examined the wounds Stanley had taken, namely his lack of a left arm and leg. His left arm had been blown off to the point that only a third of his humerus was left, and with his leg, only half the femur remained. His lower jaw had also been partially shattered and now hung awkwardly, and the blast ripped apart the flesh of the left side of his torso. Xeno could still see bits of his organs left inside his abdomen, but more than likely, he'd need to find replacements for his intestines at the very minimum.

As Xeno cut away the mangled flesh, bone, and muscle, he couldn't help the anxiety that crawled up his spine and made his hands tremble ever so slightly. His brain kept screaming at him every time he dragged the knife across dead flesh that Stanley would wake up screaming, begging him to stop, begging Xeno to stop hurting him.

But Xeno wasn't hurting him. Stanley's brain was off at the moment, along with the rest of his body. Xeno wasn't hurting him because Stanley wasn't capable of being hurt at the moment. He couldn't feel pain.

Xeno repeated this like a mantra in his head as he carefully cut away the death, rot, and decay all over Stanley's body until no trace of it remained. Of course, this left the significant issue of needing replacements for all that was removed, but that was of no matter.

Xeno was already in the process of locating the proper materials.

Before that, however, came the issue of maintaining the health of the remaining tissue and organs. Even in the frigid temperatures of the laboratory, Stanley would still continue to decay, albeit at a much slower rate.

Fortunately, Xeno had begun his research soon after he had gotten the news of Stanley's passing.

It was elegant, really, what the fields of medical science had come up with. Xeno had only ever been interested in aerospace engineering, so he hadn't ever really looked into it. Still, as he started devouring the research and science of medicine and biology, he couldn't help but find himself fascinated by the discoveries his fellow scientists had made.

With just a few tweaks to some truly elegant research into utilizing stem cells to stimulate cellular regeneration, he was able to stave off the effects of decay. However… It was a truly exhaustive process.

With Stanley's body unable to support itself, he would need to stimulate the cells by injecting Stanley all over his body every twelve hours. Every muscle group, every organ, every square foot of skin…

It was but a small price to pay to get his Stanley back.

'Never shall we part'.

Once the work of removing the decay and preserving what remains was done, it was time to begin sourcing the replacement material.

Stanley had B-type blood.

It was far more convenient than him having type O blood, the universal donor type that could only receive blood from others with type O. However, it was less convenient than if he had type AB blood, the universal recipient that could receive blood from anyone. His possible targets would need to be restricted to those with type O and B blood.

He would also need to look into those with body types similar to Stanley's. He needed an arm, a leg, several fingers and toes, a lower jawbone, large and small intestines, lungs, he might as well fix the damage Stanley had done to himself by smoking while he was at it, a stomach, and 11.32 square feet of skin. Fortunately, Stanley's eyes and other important organs were in good condition. Well… Most of them were…

Xeno secured Stanley's body in a seated position with his neck and head secured by leather straps. Ever so carefully, Xeno cut into the flesh on Stanley's head as he cut a line across his forehead along his hairline between where Stanley's hair was long and where it was buzzed short. Then, he carefully removed the flesh and bone of his skull until he could clearly see his brain.

It wasn't in great shape.

Fortunately, no bullets or shrapnel had lodged themselves into it, that would have been the worst-case scenario. But even so, the dead spots that had emerged were horribly inelegant. Stanley's brain, along with his own, was one of the most elegant minds ever to grace the human species. As such, it would all have to be repaired, not a single part could be replaced or left damaged.

Xeno photographed and took extensive notes on the state of Stanley's brain, then attempted injecting it with the cell preservation medicine he had perfected. Unfortunately, after a few days, there was no improvement.

The tissue decay had ceased, but the already necrotized tissue showed no improvement at all. It was no matter. He'd just need to adjust and perfect the formula so that it could replace the decayed flesh. Trial runs would need to be done so as not to risk such a delicate organ, but if such a simple bit of science was all that is necessary to bring Stanley back to life, then…

Well… It's not like it's rocket science.

The 24-hour gym near the center of Houston was the one with the highest percentage of able-bodied men with type B and O blood, so it was where Xeno went. Those at the gym were surprisingly welcoming to him, all things considered, it almost made Xeno feel bad that he was there scoping out three of their members to harvest their limbs and organs.

Almost.

Xeno had already collected every detail of their entire lives from the moment they were born to a few days prior, but that was no substitute for seeing them in person. Silently, he observed them. Alex was quite focused on his arms and upper body, but neglected his legs, and was a drinker. Jason was training for a triathlon, but he wasn't putting in a lot of effort. And Ryan only worked out casually, but his skin was the same tone as Stanley's.

All three of them would have their uses, it would seem.

He took Alex first. His apartment building was decked out in all the latest security systems, which only made it easier to break in. He looped the security footage in the halls, cloned the master key code used by the maintenance staff to get into his apartment, and put contact paralytics on his pillow. Then all he had to do was hide in the closet until he fell asleep.

It was funny, Stanley had always bothered Xeno to start exercising and working out, something he had always declined to do. If anything physical needed to be done, then he could rely on Stanley to do it. But now, the exercise he'd been doing while stalking his sources for materials was coming in handy as he carefully dragged the man to his car.

Alex wasn't very happy to be tied up in Xeno's laboratory, and Xeno wasn't very happy to be subject to his screaming and cursing. But it was all necessary. He couldn't start harvesting the materials from him until he was certain all the drugs were flushed out of his system. He wasn't sure if they would have a negative interaction with the cell preservation medicine, but he wasn't willing to risk it.

So, after two days, Xeno drained the man dry of blood, collected his arm, three of his fingers, four of his toes, and both his large and small intestines.

Then, he let the man's body sit for around a week or so as he collected Jason. Jason, unlike Alex, was less angry and more terrified. Xeno couldn't exactly blame the man, considering he was trapped, strapped to a chair in a room with not one, but two bodies. Optimally, he would have kept them all in different rooms, but his lab hadn't exactly been designed with this sort of thing in mind.

"P-Please," Jason sobbed as Xeno poked at Alex's exposed brain. The 'Revival Fluid,' as he had decided to call it, wasn't working as well as he wanted it to. "Please just let me go."

Xeno frowned down as he consulted his notes. Really, the fluid wasn't working at all. Theoretically, it should be working… He must be missing something obvious.

"I'm missing something," Xeno pinched the bridge of his nose. "What is it…"

This was the Achilles' heel of the entire project. If he couldn't reverse the cellular death of the brain, then bringing Stanley back to life was simply impossible. Even if he restarted his heart and kept him on life support, he'd never truly recover.

He'd just be a corpse that was breathing.

He had to think, his fingers crossing into an X by his temple as he stared down at Alex's decaying brain as if it held all the answers. Was it the balance of the different chemicals interacting with each other? Did he need stem cells from Stanley himself? He might be able to get some from his spinal fluid, but had the cells been damaged by the amount of time he'd spent decaying before Xeno began the preservation process?

"W-What are you even doing, man?"

The voice broke Xeno out of his concentration, his eyes darting to Jason as he heaved sobs, his face covered in his own tears and snot. A truly inelegant display.

"I'm attempting to reverse the cellular decay of the brain," Xeno replied. "I've managed to prevent cells from degrading by modifying some truly elegant research from the Russian and Chinese governments involving stem cells and-"

"You're trying to bring them back to life?" Jason cut him off, then flinched at the glare Xeno sent his way at the trespass.

He sighed, "Yes. I'm trying to repair their brains."

Well, he was only trying to bring Stanley back to life; the other one was just useful for the necessary materials and running trial runs of the revival fluid.

"So you're like… A mad scientist?" Jason laughed hysterically. "I should have guessed from the lab, I guess, but aren't lab coats usually white?"

"Are you done now?" Xeno rolled his eyes as he turned his attention back to Alex's brain.

"I guess… I just… I don't understand. I thought you had to be alive to make new cells?"

Xeno paused at that, then looked up at Jason thoughtfully, "Are you a scientist?"

The information Xeno gathered didn't say as such. From what Xeno understood, he was just a movie theatre cashier.

"N-No, I just took high school biology," Jason shrugged somewhere between smiling and crying.

Xeno looked back down at the brain when a thought occurred. Alive. It was possible… No. It was likely that the revival fluid would only work on a living brain, not a dead one. The brain formed neural connections every moment it was active, whether conscious or unconscious. It was very likely that, in order for the revival fluid to be effective, the brain would need to be 'on' so that the revival fluid could stimulate the naturally growing neurons.

Well, there was only one way to find out.

In the end, Jason likely regretted his words to Xeno. Still, after Xeno had carefully inflicted acute brain damage to nearly every part of his brain, he likely didn't have the capacity to think enough to regret much at all.

The trials with Jason were a complete success. The revival fluid worked wonderfully to fully repair his mind over the course of a month. Judging by the screaming, it was likely very unpleasant for him, but his contribution to science would be noted down when Xeno wrote the paper detailing his project.

Still, the screaming wormed its way into Xeno's heart like a stone, and Xeno found himself only entering the lab for the time it took to administer the preservation medicine to Stanley's body.

Every time he heard Jason's screams, that same soul-wracking dread overtook him, the same that caused his usually steady hand to tremble when he carefully sliced into Stanley's flesh.

Based on the scans of both Stanley's and Jason's brains, Stanley's brain was in much worse shape than Jason's had been.

Xeno gently ran a hand around Stanley's newly fixed jaw. Jason's jaw was a nearly perfect substitute, only requiring a few millimeters shaved off to shape it perfectly to what Stanley's used to look like before half of it had been shattered. Now, aside from the stitched-together flesh on his forehead, the bridge of his nose between his eyes, and the right side of his chin stopping a few centimeters from his mouth, he looked just like himself again.

"It's going to be agony," Xeno whispered to Stanley as he rested his head on Stanley's shoulder, careful to only lie on the sterile cloth covering his body so as not to contaminate any of the bits of muscle still needing to be covered by skin. "The first month at least of your recovery will be downright torture, my dear Stanley. But you must endure it, for your sake, and for mine."

Xeno ran his fingers over the flesh of his face and, for a moment, he could almost trick himself into thinking that Stanley was just asleep.

But only for a moment. His skin was too cold and his chest too still for Xeno to trick himself for any longer than that.

"You can do it, can't you, Stanley?"

The lab was utterly silent with just the two of them lying together in the frigid cold, the other two corpses having been disposed of in the woods hours ago. Then, in the silence, a voice echoed across the walls of Xeno's mind. A small, confident voice, one Xeno hadn't heard since he was just a child himself.
"I can, Xeno! Anything for you!"

Xeno smiled and curled into Stanley's body even more.

"Never shall we part."

Xeno carefully inserted the thin steel tubes into each of Stanley's temples, just wide enough to fit a needle through. The revival fluid would need to be administered in regular 12-hour intervals for peak effectiveness into both hemispheres of Stanley's brain. And once his skin was pulled back around the tubes and secured, he took a step back to survey his work.

To say he had stripped Stanley down to a simple pair of boxers would be an inaccurate statement considering that, during the entire process of his reconstruction, he'd been naked. So, a more accurate statement would be that he clothed him in a pair of boxers and nothing else. Regardless, it was truly breathtaking to see the results of his three months of labour.

"You look positively elegant, Stanley," Xeno breathed, his eyes slightly burning with unshed tears as he looked upon the completed body of his lover. To say he looked exactly the same would be a lie, there were certainly differences. The largest of which being the slightly different skin tones of his left arm and leg, as well as their different musculature compared to Stanley's original limbs. His body was also covered in a patchwork web of stitches from where Xeno had painstakingly replaced the missing part of Stanley's skin with Ryan's. 

Still, it was Stanley.

And he was elegance incarnate.

Xeno adjusted his coat, now much less necessary as the lab had returned to room temperature for the first time in months, before ensuring that Stanley's bindings and life support equipment were perfect. He'd moved Stanley from the cold metal lab table to a custom, cushioned restraint table to prevent any movement, yet still ensure utmost comfort. Stanley's new life was already going to be unpleasant, so minimizing other uncomfortable stimuli was vital.

Each of his limbs was sandwiched between stiff cushions, and his body and head lay on a more stiff cushion formed specifically to Stanley's body and secured by thick leather restraints.

From Xeno's practice with Jason, and later Ryan, the subject tended to be rather… erratic, during the healing process. Xeno still remembered the multitude of bruises and cuts from seizing and struggling against their restraints. He refused to let Stanley suffer such an indignity.

Once Xeno was satisfied, he took a deep breath and turned to the camera he had set up on a tripod facing Stanley and the medical machines that would soon be dedicated to tracking Stanley's vitals.

Which he would have once Xeno succeeded.

'Never shall we part'.

Xeno took a deep breath and turned on the camera, standing in front of Stanley in the frame. Once the little red light blinked on, Xeno began.

"Greetings. My name is Dr. Xeno Houston Wingfield, and I am recording this to document what I am entitling Project: Revival. The purpose of this experiment is to test if it is possible to bring a deceased person back to life."

Xeno hesitated a moment and took a breath, hoping it came off to the camera that he was merely taking a dramatic pause as he schooled his features to remain neutral.

"Those of you who know me or know of me from my breakthroughs in the field of aerospace engineering will be familiar that I am a rocket scientist, not a medical doctor. However, as an unparalleled genius of our time, I found it quite easy to switch focus to the field of medicine."

"Utilizing some research on stem cells from the Chinese and Russian governments, I have developed a formula for cellular preservation in the deceased, which can effectively stop the process of decomposition, as well as a medicine that has proven capable of regenerating dead tissue. The only limitation of this medicine I have observed is that it is only effective in living subjects."

Xeno felt his heart start to beat faster. It was nearly time. After nearly four long months since Stanley had died, it was nearly time to bring him back, and Xeno could hear his blood rushing in his ears. It was a feeling he'd only ever felt on Christmas Eve when he was a child.

He clasped his hands behind his back to stop them from visibly shaking on camera. In time, this would be viewed by scientists the world over, so he would hardly allow himself to look inelegant in front of all of humanity.

"Now, to introduce the subject of this experiment."

Xeno stepped to the side so that the camera could see Stanley's body strapped to the table. "This is Captain Stanley Snyder. The youngest man to ever be ranked a Captain in the Marines' Special Forces in the history of the United States' military. He is also one of the most highly decorated snipers in the history of the same organization, hence why I chose him for this experiment."

A lie, obviously, but science was objective. It wasn't necessary for the experiment for Xeno to wax poetically about how much he adored the man lying in the restraints in front of him. They didn't need to know how this man was the other half of his soul. It was entirely irrelevant to disclose how, if this experiment failed, then Xeno would ensure he kept his wedding vow and joined Stanley in the grave.

'Never shall we part'.

The mantra was like a constant whisper in the back of his mind, playing on repeat, but saying that out loud wouldn't change a thing about the science Xeno was doing.

No. Better to lie. Nobody needed to know.

Xeno's heart wasn't any of their damn business.

"He died on a top-secret mission that I was unable to obtain details on," Xeno did his best to hide the resentment from his voice at that. "But the details surrounding his death are that he was shot multiple times and lost his left arm, leg, and a part of his abdomen and internal organs in an explosion."

The facts stung just a bit, but looking down at Stanley's complete, elegantly whole, form soothed his heart.

"All internal and external injuries were repaired by yours truly," Xeno stared meaningfully at the camera, "and to ensure there is no ambiguity in what that means, I will simply state clearly what I mean. I killed three people, I took parts of their bodies, and used them as replacements for Captain Snyder here. I do not regret my actions, and if you are watching this, it's because it's too late for me to be prosecuted. I do not intend to turn myself in, as I will not be able to continue practicing science in a prison cell."

That, and it would entirely defeat the purpose of what he was doing to be separated from Stanley so inelegantly.

"Now that that has been established, I shall begin the experiment by injecting both hemispheres of his brain with the revival fluid I have developed."

Xeno carefully moved to the small hollow tubes on Stanley's temples and carefully inserted the needle into each in turn, injecting the medicine. "It will not be effective until he is revived, so I am simply injecting it so that the healing process can begin as soon as he is returned to life. Through experimentation, I have found it maintains the most effectiveness if continuously injected in twelve-hour intervals."

Once the revival fluid was injected into Stanley's brain, he carefully screwed two small bolt heads onto the tops of the tubes, ensuring they were secure and wouldn't allow anything to enter the tube and access Stanley's brain. Xeno placed the syringe down with a lightly trembling hand, once more checked all of the monitoring nodes were secure on Stanley's chest, neck, and head.

Slowly, almost reverently, he flicked the monitors on, the loud droning beep from the heart monitor immediately grating on Xeno's nerves. Then, he lifted and primed the defibrillators.

"Now, I shall attempt to jumpstart Stanley's heart utilizing this defibrillator. Please note, it has been 105 days since Captain Snyder has died, but utilizing the combined effects of the medicines and replacement tissue and organs, his body is at the stage of only being dead for a few minutes. Theoretically, his life should be able to be returned to him."

Xeno took a deep breath, his eyes locked on Stanley's face as the high-pitched droning noise of the defibrillator told Xeno it was primed and ready.

"I will now begin the first attempt to revive Captain Snyder."

Xeno pushed the paddles to Stanley's chest, and Stanley's body writhed on the table, unable to properly move. Xeno knew, he knew, that the writhing of Stanley's body was only due to the electricity pulsing through his body, but, for a moment, the movement caused Xeno's own heart to leap as if he were the one under the paddles.

The heart monitor continued its long, continuous note.

Xeno would lie if he said he wasn't disappointed, but it was to be expected; even under normal conditions, it could take a few hits of the paddles to bring someone back to life.

"Failure," Xeno announced dryly, "beginning attempt two."

Once again, Xeno pressed the paddles to Stanley's chest, and the soldier's body writhed, but the heart monitor didn't change its tone.

"Failure," Xeno repeated once more, "beginning attempt three."

Over, and over, and over again, he pressed the paddles into Stanley's chest, watched him writhe, and listened to the heart monitor continue to drone on and on. The word 'Failure' was as bitter as the nicotine Xeno would taste on Stanley's tongue, but his desperation to taste it just one more time kept him going.

"Failure, beginning attempt twenty-three."

Xeno was missing something, just like before. He couldn't just keep trying the same thing and expecting something to change. He had to figure it out, do something. This wasn't over.

It wasn't over.

'Never shall we part.'

"Failure," Xeno gritted his teeth as he placed down the paddle and grabbed the first dose of Stanley's revival fluid. "I am going to attempt to inject the revival fluid into Stanley's heart. The electricity stimulating the heart may also affect the medicine and aid in the revival process."

Xeno stabbed the syringe straight into Stanley's chest and injected the entire syringe. So far, he'd not seen any negative effects from injecting too much of the medicine into an organ, so he didn't feel too bad about dumping the entire contents of the syringe directly into the organ.

It didn't matter; he could make more if it worked, and if it didn't work, then this video would work as his suicide note.

"Beginning attempt twenty-four."

Once more, Xeno pressed the pads of the defibrillator onto Stanley's chest, watched his love writhe, and listened to the hateful noise of the flat-lining monitor.

"Failure," Xeno rubbed the pads together once more, his eyes locked on Stanley's chest, "beginning attempt twenty-five."

Again. And again. And again after that. Xeno kept going like a man possessed, and in a way, maybe he was. It didn't matter. None of it mattered. Not god, not any ghosts, not the law, or any ethical boundaries of science.

All that mattered was what was taken from him, what he was going to rip back for the claws of a cruel world that thought it could take what was rightfully his.

"Never shall we part," Xeno whispered under his breath as he pushed the pads to Stanley's chest for the thirty-sixth time.

A sudden gasping noise filled Xeno's ears as Stanley's mouth opened and his eyes rolled back in his head. Xeno's eyes locked onto the fluttering eyelids of the once-dead, now living and breathing man, as the heart monitor's tone finally changed into a blessed, rhythmic beat.

For a moment, Xeno was convinced he was going to collapse on the floor as his legs nearly gave out from under him. Something that had withered and died in his heart the moment he heard of Stanley's death was revived at the exact moment that Stanley's heart resumed its beating.

Xeno huffed a breath that was part gasp, part laugh, and part sob as his eyes burned. He dropped the defibrillator pads, barely even hearing them as they fell to the ground. His entire body began to tremble as his vision began to swim with tears he refused to allow to fall, surveying the living, breathing results of his labour.

Stanley was alive.

"I- I did it," Xeno finally managed to utter. "He's aliv-!"

And then, the screaming started.

Xeno fixed his hair once again as he sat down in front of the camera he'd set up on his desk in his office. Despite his hair being immaculate, he knew that there was no disguising the bags under his eyes or the deadness of them as he turned on the camera and waited for the red light to blink on.

"This entry is being recorded two weeks after the initial revival of Captain Snyder," Xeno spoke. He was aiming for his tone to echo the same neutral tone as he always had, but even to his ears, he just sounded like a shell.

He felt like a shell.

Truly, the joy of his sheer elegance in triumphing against nature was short-lived due to the absolute hell that followed.

"So far, Captain Snyder's brain is slowly improving based on the scans I've been able to take. However, he is still… He has not yet reached the stage of recovery where cognitive tests can be administered. His brain is still repairing to the point where it can functionally operate his body. A process that he has expressed is… unpleasant."

An understatement. A horribly inelegant understatement.

The screams just wouldn't stop, and Xeno was certain that Stanley's agonized, barely human, screaming would be imprinted on his mind for the rest of his life. Unlike with the other two, Xeno didn't avoid the lab. In fact, it was the complete opposite, he practically lived there, glued to Stanley's side as he held his hand and was powerless to do nothing but listen to his lover's tortured existence.

Xeno held his hand, and he cried, and he held his hands to his ears and begged whatever entity was watching to make it stop. To end Stanley's suffering, to let him just live without the horrible agony. But he never left.

Not while Stanley was conscious anyway. It was only in the brief moments when Stanley passed out that Xeno extracted himself to perform the basic maintenance they both needed. Replacing the IV fluid and cleaning Stanley, cleaning himself, and eating. Just the bare minimum.

He slept by Stanley's side, head resting on Stanley's chest, and woke up to more screaming. Maybe he was torturing himself by doing this, forcing himself to listen. There was no guarantee Stanley would even remember any of this. Truly, Xeno wished he didn't.

But he couldn't leave Stanley, not again, not when he just got him back, not when Stanley needed him.

'Never shall we part.'

It was amusing, Xeno thought the nightmares would improve once Stanley was alive, but instead, they only got worse. Now, armed with Stanley's very real cries, the images in his mind conjured hundreds of different scenarios of how Stanley died, screaming in pain and pleading for Xeno. Begging to know why Xeno left him when they swore they'd stay together forever.

Those times, he didn't need Stanley to wake him up. Those times, he woke himself up from the shaking of his body and the tears flowing down his face and onto Stanley's bare skin.

He felt like a beaten-down husk of a human being.

"I was… aware this first month would be difficult, but that doesn't make it any easier to suffer through. I will include the data I have been gathering on his recovery and I will record another update when it becomes relevant," Xeno concludes before quickly turning off the video. Once he was certain the camera was off he buried his head in his arms at his desk.

They just needed to get through this. Things were only going to get better, and then he'd have Stanley back.

They just had to get through this. Together.

'Never shall we part'.

Xeno carefully pushed another piece of chopped banana into Stanley's mouth. Instinctively, perhaps, Stanley closed his mouth around the piece of fruit, and Xeno carefully watched him consume the piece before pressing another into his mouth.

After 28 days, 13 hours, and 26 minutes, Stanley stopped screaming and writhing in agony. Scans of his brain showed most of the improvements were centered around the brainstem, with more minor improvements to the parietal and occipital lobes. This, however, left the other parts of the brain still heavily damaged.

This made sense as it seems the brain naturally prioritized repairing the parts of the brain responsible for vital functions; however…

Xeno attempted to feed Stanley another piece of banana, but the man pressed his mouth shut, letting out a soft grunt. His vacant eyes idly rolled around the room, not focusing on anything in particular.

"Do you not want any more Stanley?" Xeno asked as he attempted to press the piece further towards his mouth until it pressed against the man's lips. Stanley didn't respond verbally, only tried to turn his head once more away from the food, a fact made nearly impossible by the cushions securing his head.

"Alright," Xeno nodded as he placed the banana slice next to the other various sliced foods, all of them soft as he had to be careful feeding Stanley so he wouldn't choke. Doing all this work to bring him back only for him to suffocate on a piece of food would be highly inelegant.

Not that he couldn't just extract the food and revive Stanley again.

Xeno turned to the camera pointed at them, its red light blinking. "From the tests I've managed to run on Captain Snyder, his cognitive functions appear to be close to those of a newborn. However, given the effectiveness of the revival fluid, I believe his cognitive functions will rapidly develop over time. I hypothesize that within fifty days from now, he'll have the same mental faculties as he did before his death."

And didn't that make Xeno's heart swell? Yes, Stanley may be effectively an invalid now, a far cry from his usual elegance, but Xeno couldn't be prouder of him. Stanley had conquered death itself to return to Xeno's side. Yes, Xeno's science facilitated it, but it was Stanley's body, a body that had never let Xeno down in any situation throughout their entire lives, that had chosen to live. It was Stanley's body that suffered through the agony and pain, and didn't have even a single heart attack or aneurysm from the stress. It was his brain that kept fighting to survive even as it was riddled with necrotized tissue.

He knew from the vacancy in Stanley's eyes that the man likely had very few, if any, cognitive thoughts at the moment, but something told Xeno that, deep down, Stanley remembered him. That Stanley was fighting to return to Xeno's side, and that was truly the most elegant thing Stanley had ever done for him.

'Never shall we part'.

Xeno smiled down at him as he wiped a bit of saliva from the side of Stanley's mouth, then he turned back to the camera, his voice neutral and his eyes cool.

"He has yet to respond to his own name, but I anticipate he will in the next seven days."

Xeno couldn't wait.

Xeno cleared a corner of the lab and repurposed it into a makeshift room, complete with a bed, table, all Stanley's medical equipment, and some makeshift barricades and a locked door to prevent Stanley from wandering off. Not that he could get very far, considering he could only crawl.

Still, Xeno was sure he was more excited than Stanley was to free him from the restraint table now that he was certain the man wouldn't accidentally harm himself. He still secured him with padded restraints to the bed when Xeno wasn't with him, but when they were together, Stanley had free range of the small, makeshift room.

Xeno smiled across the table at him, two plates of simple fusilli pasta with red sauce in front of both of them. Xeno slowly ate his own pasta with the plastic child utensils, making sure to clearly demonstrate how to use them for Stanley, who blankly stared down at the food. His eyes followed Xeno's fork before looking down at his own, then the food.

Slowly, Stanley picked up the fork in his fist and stared at the food before stabbing at the pasta with his fork and bringing it to his mouth, eating it.

"Very good, Stanley," Xeno smiled at him, his grin only widening when Stanley's eyes instantly locked on him at the mention of his name. Really, even if the purpose of this exercise was to build both Stanley's motor skills and rebuild his basic skills, it was simply nice to share a meal with his husband again.

It was obviously quite different from their usual dinner dates, where they went out to fancy restaurants to enjoy a night of decadent food and drink, then came home to finish the night entwined in each other's arms until they were both thoroughly exhausted. Or, Xeno would have the distinct privilege of tasting Stanley's cooking as they cracked open a bottle of wine and ended the evening in much the same way.

Comparatively, the pasta seasoned only by the tomato sauce and some salt was unbearably bland, and yet it felt like one of the best meals Xeno had ever eaten. He continued to carefully demonstrate the proper grip on the fork, the motion to bring the food to his mouth, and resting the fork on the side of the plate while chewing. But he didn't spare even a moment of thought to it.

Instead, he gazed at Stanley.

He likely looked like a lovesick idiot as he watched Stanley slowly adjust his grip on the fork, and his motions became a bit more fluid as he continued to eat. He likely looked like a complete and utter fool, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. His heart was so full as he watched Stanley struggle to eat, a task that was so simple for him a year ago and utterly impossible fifty days ago.

Once their meal was done, Xeno gently cleaned the bits of sauce that got on Stanley's face and hands. There was some on his shirt as well, so Xeno slung Stanley's arm around his shoulder and guided him back to the bed. It was difficult, very difficult, considering Stanley was quite heavy and Xeno was forced to support his entire weight as Stanley wasn't able to walk yet. But the distance was short, and practice was vital to rebuild these skills.

Xeno grunted as he carefully sat Stanley down on the edge of the bed. "Stanley, could you take off your shirt for me?"

Stanley blinked at him for a moment before looking down at the plain white T-shirt he was wearing, along with a pair of grey sweatpants. Xeno could practically see the gears turning in Stanley's mind before he slowly grabbed the shirt and began pulling it over his head.

He was more than a little awkward at it, but very quickly Stanley pulled the shirt off and dropped it to the floor by his feet, his scarred flesh now on full display.

"Elegant Stanley, thank you," Xeno smiled down at him as he picked up the shirt, then turned to collect a spare from the small chest of drawers full of clothes he kept for such occasions. "I think we can start having you dress yourself from now o-"

"Xe…"

Xeno dropped the shirt on the ground as his eyes snapped to Stanley in an instant. Idly, he could tell from the cold air on his tongue that his mouth was hanging open, but he couldn't give less of a damn as Stanley's golden eyes met his own, the soldier's mouth struggling to form words.

"...Xe…no."

His voice was awkward, strained, and slurred. It sounded more like he was mumbling a grunt than actually talking. Truly, he was nearly incomprehensible, and it was a miracle Xeno was even able to understand what he was trying to communicate as words as opposed to his usual hums and grunts.

It was the most elegant noise ever to grace Xeno's ears in his entire life.

"Yes, Stanley!" Xeno rushed forward and held Stanley's face between his palms, tears streaming down his face as he tried to hold back a sob, "It's me. It's Xeno."

Stanley's eyes were still hazy, but there was an undeniable spark in them now as they stared into Xeno's.

"...Xen…" Stanley once more grunted out.

"Yes, Stan, it's me," Xeno weeped as he threw himself forward and wrapped his arms around his husband. "It's me, Xeno! I brought you back! We'll never be separated again, I swear it."

The mantra was beating in his head now like a drum, the words 'Never shall we part' roaring in Xeno's ears over and over as he clutched Stanley as if letting him go now would mean letting him go forever.

Then, he felt it, arms wrapping around his torso and holding him. It was weak, fumbling, and horribly awkward. But the sensation of finally, finally being held in Stanley's arms once again caused Xeno to cry until he passed out in the man's arms.

"Take your time," Xeno reassured him as he took another step backward and Stanley took another step forward, his hands resting in Xeno's as Xeno supported him in their walk across the lab.

"Hate…" Stanley grunted as he took another step on shaking legs.

"I understand that Stanley," Xeno reassured him as they walked out of frame of the camera, "but please keep in mind you're recovering from extreme brain damage. The fact that you're frustrated with yourself is actually a very good sign. It means you remember what you used to be capable of."

"...More… walk…" Stanley panted as sweat poured down his forehead and neck, soaking into the hem of his shirt.

"And you'll be able to do more than walk again. We just need to give it time. You're recovering faster than I even anticipated. I thought you'd reach this stage at day forty-eight of your recovery, but we're only on day forty-two."

"I…" Stanley's face contorted in frustration, and Xeno didn't need to ask to understand what was frustrating Stanley now. Judging from his scans, his temporal and frontal lobes were lagging behind as his body focused on regaining control of its motor functions, leaving his finer cognitive functions to lag behind.

It was normal for Stan to not fully understand what Xeno was saying when he went on long rants about his experiments and research, but not being able to comprehend Xeno when he was talking about something simple frustrated Stanley immensely. 

Xeno squeezed his hand reassuringly, "You're getting better, Stanley."

Stanley sighed, "Done…"

"Alright," Xeno nodded as he slung Stanley's arm over his shoulder, "Let's sit down and do some reflex tests."

Stanley just grunted as Xeno led him to the nearest chair and helped him sit down. Xeno stepped to the side for a moment as he readjusted the camera angle to include both of them in the shot before retrieving a small, pointed mallet and returning to Stanley's side.

"That's…" Stanley scowled at the camera as his mouth contorted in a variety of shapes. Xeno waited for a long moment as Stanley searched for the word. It was only when Stanley's mouth snapped shut and he let out a frustrated grunt did Xeno step in.

"Camera," Xeno finally supplied, "It's recording us."

The words rolled around in Stanley's mind for a moment before he slurred out, "...Why..?"

Xeno opened his mouth, nearly giving in to the instinct to go on a long explanation of how he planned to share this historic moment with the entire world… in about fifty or sixty years or so. But he stopped himself.

"For science," Xeno smiled as he knelt by Stanley's leg.

Stanley nodded at that as he observed Xeno tap his knee, causing his leg to kick involuntarily. Slowly and quietly, Xeno continued his ministrations, testing Stanley's reflexes all over his body and quietly writing notes on the results.

When he was done, Xeno smiled at him, "You're doing very well. Physically, your body has completely recovered, so all we need to do is further develop your cerebellum, and you should regain the full movement and capabilities of your body that you had in your prime."

Well… there was one part of Stanley's body that Xeno had yet to test the function of, but running under the assumption, something Xeno hated doing, that it was working just as well as his other organs, then it was probably fine. God Xeno hated making the assumption it was working when really he'd love more than anything to test it.

For science, of course.

However, that was simply not feasible at Stanley's current stage of recovery. At the moment, his frontal lobe and prefrontal cortex were still significantly impaired. There was a high chance that Stanley might find the act of testing that particular organ's function more distressing, due to the sudden influx of hormones his brain wouldn't be able to properly accommodate, than pleasurable.

Xeno refused to put Stanley through any more distress than he'd already been through, the screams of that first month still echoing in his mind and causing his hands to tremble.

"Xeno…" Stanley slurred out.

"Yes?" Xeno turned to him as he finished his notes on Stanley's recovery.

"...love… you."

Xeno turned fully to him and clasped Stanley's hand in both of his own, "I love you too, Stanley."

He'd just cut this bit out, he decided. Nobody needed to know about this. This moment was for them and them alone. He refused to give the world any more of Stanley than they'd already taken from him.

"...Kiss..?" Stanley asked, staring up into Xeno's eyes.

Xeno paused at that, searching Stanley's face. His brow was furrowed, creasing the line of stitches and scar tissue that ran perpendicular to the elegant lock of blonde hair that cascaded down his brow. He was as beautiful as the day Xeno lost him, and Xeno would love nothing more than to take that gorgeously elegant face into his hands and kiss him breathless. But…

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Stan," Xeno replied softly. "Kissing has been proven to release a flood of different hormones and endorphins into the brain, including-"

"Please..?" Stanley asked, his golden eyes pleading, and Xeno felt his resolve crumble.

"I…" Xeno sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. The effects of kissing are increased by time and intensity, so perhaps a short chaste one will be safe. He didn't get the opportunity to study the effects of oxytocin and endorphins on the revival fluid and healing neurons, so he has no idea if they'll affect Stanley's recovery.

But Stanley was staring at him and whatever that raw thing was in his eyes told Xeno that, perhaps, Stanley needed that taste of closeness just as much Xeno did. That reassurance that they were okay, they were alive.

'Never shall we part.'

Xeno lowered his hand and took a step forward until he was hovering just above Stanley, their faces mere inches apart. He was so elegantly beautiful despite all that had happened to him that it made Xeno wonder, not for the first time, how he had gotten so lucky to have this incredible man all to himself.

Stanley extended his neck and brought his face forward just a bit, not quite enough to close the distance but enough to make it extremely clear what he wanted. Xeno gently touched Stanley's chin, his fingers barely grazing his flesh as he guided the both of them closer until their lips finally touched.

It was feather light, more a brush of the lips then a real kiss. Then he felt Stanley's lips pressed forward into his own and he instinctively pressed back. Xeno took a deep breath through his nose, his lungs filling with something that felt lighter than normal air as he felt the press of Stanley's lips against his own. He felt light as a feather, he felt downright high.

Then, Stanley's lips shifted against his own in an awkward attempt to deepen the kiss and reality rushed back in. Xeno jerked away and silently cursed. How long had he kissed Stanley? Was it a few seconds? Longer?

What sort of chemicals were flooding Stanley's brain right now and how would they affect the still delicate neurons trying to desperately rebuild themselves? Selfish. Pure selfish inelegence on Xeno's part. He could have jeopardized Stanley's recovery for a moment of satisfaction.

"I'm-" Xeno's voice cracked and he cleared his chest as Stanley stared up at him, "We need to do a brain scan. I need to check how your brain is healing."

Stanley grunted, frowning in disappointment as Xeno busied himself preparing the machines.

"...I'm good… Xeno…" Stanley slurred out, and in that moment Xeno knew Stanley had seen right through him and into the true heart of his concerns.

"That is to be seen," Xeno told him as he refused to look at his lover, shame burning like a raging fire in his chest, "now I'm going to help you get to the bed so you can lay down as the machine scans you."

Xeno stepped forward and helped lift Stanley to his feet, his arm, which lacked a great amount of the muscles Xeno had always known him to have, slung over Xeno's shoulder.

Xeno could feel Stanley stare at him as they slowly made their way back into Stanley's makeshift room and to his bed. Xeno kept his eyes locked in front of them, unable to look at Stanley as he felt his body shook slightly. He tried to tell himself the tremble was only due to the effort of supporting Stanley's weight, but he knew he was lying.

Carefully, he laid Stanley on the bed before rushing out of the room to gather the necessary equipment and just as quickly returning to Stanley's side.

"I… love… you…" Stanley turned his head slightly to stare up at Xeno.

Xeno smiled as he gazed down at Stanley with all the love he possessed in his body, "I love you too Stanley. More than anything."

"You recognize this, don't you?" Xeno smiled as he gestured to the folding table and chair set-up directly in front of the two. Stanley's hair gently swayed in the wind that blew through the backyard as he leaned on the walking crutch secured under his armpit. He didn't reply for a long moment, but the way his eyes locked on the object sat in the center of the table told Xeno that, without a single doubt, Stanley knew exactly what it was.

A gun.

A Glock 19 to be exact.

"You've always had a passion for firearms, so I thought perhaps it may be a good idea to start rebuilding your skills with them," Xeno smiled as he gestured a hand towards the table and chair.

Stanley slipped into the folding chair and regarded the gun with an almost reverence. Slowly, he wrapped his fingers around the grip and lifted it into the air with a trembling hand. Xeno felt his heart in his throat as he watched Stanley regard the gun, inspecting every inch of it.

It was unloaded, of course. Xeno had checked it almost compulsively before letting Stanley touch it. There was absolutely no risk of Stanley harming himself with the gun other than perhaps pinching his skin when disassembling and resembling it. Still, there was a panicked screaming in the back of his mind, warning him that Stanley was in danger, that the gun could hurt him.

It was fine, Xeno breathed through it as Stanley slowly began taking the gun apart, rediscovering every nook and cranning of the weapon. Stanley was home. He was safe. Stanley was safer holding a gun then he was holding a plastic fork.

Yes, if there were only two things Stanley knew, it was Guns and Xeno himself.

Slowly, Stanley finished disassembling the weapon and laying all the pieces of it on the table in front of him. Then, he began to piece it all back together.

His motions were shaky and overall sloppy, the metal clacking awkwardly against each other instead of sliding smoothly as Stanley reassembled the gun. Then he disassembled it once more and began reassembling it. Over and over again he practiced, and while his movements did improve, the fastest he was able to manage was around twenty seconds, a lot longer than his usual time of sub eight seconds from before he died. 

Every odd tap of metal, every clunk of something not fitting just right, every second wasted by Stanley's fingers not moving exactly right made him more and more visibly frustrated. His shoulders were tense, his brow furrowed, and his teeth clenched until finally he slammed the bits of metal to the table.

"Damn it!" Stanley swore, "It's…. I'm not…"

Stanley huffed as he struggled to find the words, struggled to figure out how to make his mouth move as he wanted it too. Xeno silently took a step forward and pressed himself against Stanley's shoulder blades, his hands resting on his husband's shoulders as he looked down at the man.

"It'll come back to you Stanley," Xeno reassured him as he began to brush his hair back, his metal claws gently brushing along Stanley's scalp as he leaned into Xeno's touch, "You just need to be patient."

"I don't…. Tired of… being… this," Stanley gritted out, "Can't… The medicine? Can't… more..? Faster..?"

"The revival fluid works at peak effectiveness when administered every twelve hours," Xeno assured him, "even if I administered it in more frequent doses, it wouldn't cause your brain to heal faster."

Stanley grunted in frustration and Xeno wound his other hand under Stanley's chin, tilting his head back until he had Stanley's head in both of his hands, the top of his head resting against the bottom of Xeno's sternum. "I know you're frustrated my love, but you must be patient. The brain is an extremely complex organ and yours was more heavily damaged than any other living human in history. What you managed so far is truly elegant Stanley, and if you keep trying, you'll be back to your former glory very soon."

Stanley let out a shuddering breath as he heard his head fully into the hand at his cheek, "Want… touch more…"

"I…" Xeno hesitated, but didn't let go of Stanley's head, "I worry that the chemical produced by prolonged physical contact may be detrimental to your recovery. I don't want to negatively impact your recovery due to a motion of selfishness Stanley."

"But… I want…" Stanley replied and the rawness of his voice was so intense Xeno nearly felt his knees give out. He took a deep, shuddering breath.

"You also want cigarettes and those aren't good for you either, Stanley. I promise you, we'll hold each other until you're sick and tired of it, but not until you're better."

And with that, Xeno had to force himself to let go, because if he kept holding Stanley much longer he wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to. He never wanted to let go of Stanley ever again.

'Never shall we part'.

Stanley's expression twisted in pain for just a moment, before he sighed and looked down at the bits of metal on the table. Methodically, he pierced the gun back together until the whole weapon once more rested in Stanley's palm.

"Shoot…"

Xeno sucked in a breath as his entire body went rigid. The part of his mind screaming to protect Stanley, to not let him get hurt was begging him to decline, pleading with him to at least check the gun himself. But Xeno forced himself to nod and reach into his coat and pull out the full mag he had taken out of the glock earlier.

"I- I presume you don't have to reteach you range safety?" Xeno asked, to which Stanley just smirked and chuckled, his smile a far cary from what it used to be but so similar it made Xeno heartache.

Stanley held out his hand for the magazine, to which Xeno carefully placed it in his hands. Xeno's heart was pounding in his ears as Stanley removed the empty magazine and put the full one in, the metal slotting into place.

Xeno desperately tried to keep himself calm as terror clawed its way up his throat. He wasn't even sure what he was so scared of. They were safe here, at home, far away from anyone that could hear and come to question the sounds of the gunshots. Their backyard was already a functioning shooting range anyway, so there was no danger.

They were safe.

But as Stanley assumed a shooting stance and lifted the gun to aim at one of the old wooden targets that really needed to be replaced, Xeno's mind was screaming at him the danger was imminent. That if he didn't do something that second Stanley would be taken from him again.

But there was nothing. They were safe. He'd never lose Stanley again.

Then the bang of the first shot rang out.

Somewhere in Xeno's mind he cataloged how elegant it was that Stanley managed to clip the target from 50 meters away on his first shot after returning to life. But the vast majority of his mind was sent spiraling back into his darkest nightmares, where Stanley's body was ripped to pieces by enemy gunfire and left broken and dying. For a moment, Xeno was convinced some kind of misfire caused the bullet, or a fragment of it, to punch straight through Xeno's chest.

Then there was another bang, followed quickly by a third and with each bang another image of Stanley being shot and left for dead. Xeno brought his fist to his chest, clutching at the black turtle neck he was wearing as a fourth and then fifth bang rang out. Xeno could feel his heart pounding like a jackhammer in his chest, his body violently twitching with every shot.

Shot after shot after shot rang out and Xeno desperately tried to reign in his reaction. He had to calm down as horrible gory images of his husband dying in agony flash through his mind. He had to calm down.

He couldn't calm down.

Xeno was nearly convinced he was having a heart attack, but he knew that it was a panic attack, which meant all he needed to do was calm down. It was simple. Just calm down. Just breathe, control your breath and thoughts, push away the images, calm your heart.

He just-

He just needed to calm down.

Xeno's entire body flinched on the fifteenth and final shot. Idly, through his tunneled and swimming vision, he noticed Stanley had nailed his final three shots dead center.

"E-Elegant Stan," Xeno panted, "Truly you're- you're, ah, accuracy is-"

Stanley turned to look at him. Half his jaw was entirely shattered, destroyed to the point that a good third of it was completely missing, the skin flopping grotesquely. The skin between his eyes was torn and blackened to the point the bone of his skull was cracked. The top half of his head was completely gone exposing his rotting necrotic brain-

Xeno vomited.

He felt his knees hit the soft dirt and grass as bile and the remnants of his breakfast soaked into the ground between his knees.

"Xeno!"

It was Stanley's voice, he was alive. He was alright. Stanley was fine. They were together.

'Never shall we part'

He repeated the vow over and over again in his head like a mantra as he felt Stanley's collapse next to him, his arm wrapped around Xeno's shoulders. Xeno coughed and took a shuttering breath, his throat burned from his stomach acid. His brain simultaneously supplied him with a hundred different facts about the pH of stomach acid and images of some of Stanley's partially dissolved entrails.

Xeno vomited again.

"Xeno… Why..?" Stanley asked as he held Xeno's shoulders, gently squeezing him as Xeno coughed up the last of the bile.

"I don't know," Xeno whimpered as he furiously wiped away his tears, "I thought everything was getting better. You're getting better, so why am I acting so inelegently like this? It wasn't- I wasn't even the one who died."

Stanley looked at him so terribly sadly, then he drew Xeno into his arms and held him there as he shook apart.

Everything was fine. Stanley was fine. He wasn't dead, he had all his limbs and organs, he was warm and soft and his arms were surrounding Xeno like a loving shield from the cruelties of this world. It was grounding and in a few minutes Xeno was finally able to pull himself together.

"I… I apologize for that Stanley," Xeno sniffled as he drew back, wiping at his eyes. "It was horribly inelegant of me."

"Elegant… always…" Stanley wiped a clumsy thumb across Xeno's cheek. Xeno huffed a laugh and shook his head.

"I think that sentiment should be reserved for when my pants aren't covered in my own breakfast."

Xeno grunted as he stood from the ground and held out his hand for Stanley. Stanley gripped his hand and used Xeno to pull himself back up to his feet before stabilizing himself on the back of the folding chair so he could retrieve his crutch.

"...Inside."

"Yes," Xeno agreed, sniffling again, "I think that's enough outside for today. Leave the gun, I'll grab it later, for now I think I'd like to get changed."

"Stanley…" Xeno sighed as he entered the lab, finding Stanley already awake and doing pushups.

It was something that started three days ago, Xeno would wake up and come to check on Stanley at five am, an hour before Stanley would need to be given his medicine so he could check on Stanley's process overnight and make him something to eat. However, now, instead of finding Stanley peacefully asleep, he's been finding the man doing various exercises.

Stanley glanced up at him, "Morning Xeno…"

"Please tell me you didn't stay up all night working out," Xeno sighed.

"No, But come over here… I needed more…." Stanley paused for a moment, stopping his movements as he just held himself up with his arms straight. His voice was still slurred, but now it sounded less like he was drunk and instead now he was only slightly tipsy. It was strong progress, and part of that progress was also allowing Stanley to remember words and phrases all on his own, something he was getting very good at. So Xeno didn't interrupt him, just letting him think his train of thought through as he tried to find the word he was looking for.

"Weight!" Stanley finally grinned, "Sit…"

"Sit?" Xeno raised an eyebrow.

"On my back…" Stanley continued. "Sit."

Xeno frowned, "I'm not sure that's a good idea, you're-"

"My body… Feels fuckin' amazing," Stanley told him, "The medicine is… working like a dream, on my body…"

"The formula is designed to aid and rejuvenate every type cell in your body," Xeno muttered, "theoretically it could be possible that as you damage your muscles through exercise the preservation medicine is quickly repairing them, acting like-"

"Xeno… enough with the science stuff…. Sit," Stanley cut him off.

Xeno hesitated for a moment longer, before he carefully approached Stanley and sat down on Stanley's back. He was tense, ready to spring off him at any moment if Stanley showed any sign of discomfort or weakness. But he was solid and unflinching.

"Feet Xeno…" Stanley told him and Xeno sighed, lifting his feet from the ground and crossing his legs as he fully sat on Stanley's back. Then Stanley began to move, resuming his workout now with the additional weight on his back.

It was something they'd done hundreds of times before, the first time being when Stnaley was in high school and Xeno was in university. Stanley needed to study for a test but decided working out was a better use of his time, so Xeno had decided to crawl on his back to 'help'.

Stanley had enthusiastically agreed, obviously pleased to show off his strength to his boyfriend. His smile was wiped clean off his face however when Xeno began lecturing him on the material Stanley would need to know for his chemistry quiz the next day. Stanley had moaned and groaned, but never had he stopped or tried to get Xeno off his back, and in the end he scored an 'A' on the test.

Since then, Xeno had become Stanley's favorite work-out weight and Xeno was more than willing to let Stanley use his body for various exercises while he either studied himself, or helped Stanley study.

The familiar up and down motions and shifting of Stanley's muscles lulled Xeno into the wonderful nostalgia and he let himself relax for just a moment.

"I know I've told you before how important sleep is for your recovery," Xeno began his lecture. "The brain undergoes extremely important processes during sleep including repairing any damage done during the day and rebalancing the concoction of hormones and chemicals that have flooded it during your conscious hours."

Stanley exhaled somewhere between a laugh and a sigh.

"Rest is also important because your body will prioritize healing the more vital injuries first. If you keep working out your body will heal itself, but that gives it less energy and ability to heal your brain. If you want your synapses to be repaired faster then you need to allow yourself to rest-"

"I get it…" Stanley huffed out, but Xeno could hear the smile in his voice, "I didn't… Stay up… I just set an alarm for… four thirty…"

Xeno frowned, "Why four thirty?"

"I just… want to be…" Stanley hesitated in his words but kept moving his body as he thought. Xeno remained silent once more, letting Stanley think. "...warmed-up," he continued after a long moment, "...when you get down here."

"Why do you want to be warmed up?" Xeno asked.

Finally, Stanley stopped doing push-ups, "Hop of…"

Xeno immediately obeyed, "Are you tired? Did you over exert yourself? I can-"

"Nope," Stanley replied as he easily got to his feet and held his arms open, "I wanna do squats…. Hop up."

Xeno glanced down at Stanley's waiting arms, he didn't need to ask what Stanley was talking about. One of the many ways Stanley would use Xeno's as a weight was to princess carry him in his arms as he did squats or lunges or other various exercises. So, it was quite obvious that's exactly what Stanley wanted now.

"Are you sure-?"

"Yes," Stanley nodded.

Xeno hesitated for only a moment longer before he stepped forward into Stanley's arms and let the soldier scoop him up into his arms, one strong arm warped under his knees and the other curved around his back. Stanley adjusted his grip a few times before Xeno was setted in his grip, then he began doing squats.

The pair fell into a comfortable silence as Xeno rested his head against Stanley's shoulder and gently placed his hand against Stanley's chest. He felt Stanley's heart beat in his chest. His pulse was elevated, but within normal parameters for a grown man exercising, nothing dangerous.

Xeno glanced up at Stanley's face, only to find the man staring down at him, smiling. Xeno's heart leapt into his throat as he locked eyes with Stanley. He looked radiantly beautiful as the lights of the lab caught in his hair and eyes, making him look like the shining sun itself. His expression was just as warm, his eyes twinkling down at Xeno and his smile, while twitching and ever so slightly wrong, made Xeno want to melt.

Stanley was elegance incarnate. He had been ever since they were children and it made Xeno reel that Stanley had ever thought Xeno couldn't or wouldn't return his affections. For three years when they were younger Stanley had silently held a crush on Xeno and never told him, apparently convinced Xeno would always love science more than him. It was only when he'd gotten into an argument with his father one of the few times Xeno had been to Stanley's house that it slipped out.

Stanley's father had been furious, but Xeno had been more than overjoyed, even when Stanley's old man had physically dragged him out of the house and told him to 'keep his queer sissy ass' away from his son.

"You're staring…" Stanley hummed.

"You were staring first," Xeno replied, to which Stanley hummed. "You never answered my question. Why do you like being warmed-up when I get down here."

"Because… You love this…" Stanley tightened his grip on Xeno, holding him even closer to his chest. "When I hold you… Just like this."

It was true. Xeno had never told Stanley, but they both knew. Xeno adored it when Stanley lifted him up into his arms and… well… He didn't particularly care what Stanley did after that, he just loved being lifted in Stanley's arms. Whenever Stanley held him like this, it reminded Xeno of the knights in fairytales, rescuing his princess from whatever cruel fate had befallen her.

Something about being the princess to Stanley's knight thrilled Xeno, it made him feel safe. As if, no matter what happened Stanley would swoop in and rescue Xeno. As if, no matter what happened he'd always return to Xeno's side with that same charming smile and angelic face and scoop him right off his feet.

'Never shall we part.'

Still… life was cruel. But even now it went to show there were two things that would never let Xeno down. Stanley, and science.

"You've always been tactile…" Stanley continued with a hum. "Other people think… You hate… physical contact. But it's not true… You love touching me… You always have."

"You're perfect, it's impossible to keep my hands off of you," Xeno replied without even a hint of shame.

"And yet you do…" Stanley replied, "You only let yourself touch me… Like this."

Xeno looked away, "There are so many hormones that can be released through physical contact. I don't want to jeopardize your recovery by touching you so selfishly."

"You're treating me… with kiddie gloves Xeno," Stanley nuzzled his pompadour.

"I'd rather treat you with kiddie gloves than see you broken."

"I won't break…"

"You did Stanley," Xeno gritted his teeth, "You…"

Life was cruel, and even while Stanley clawed his way back to him from hell with the help of science, the pain remained. The terror, the longing, the ache, the horror, the grief, the despair, all of it still lingered in his mind like the smell of tobacco.

"I won't break," Stanley pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"I won't risk losing you again," Xeno curled into Stanley's chest, practically wrapping himself around Stanley as he wove his arms around Stanley's neck. "Please Stanley. Never leave me again."

"Never… shall we part, right?" Stanley pressed his cheek against Xeno's head as he held the scientist even closer.

"Yes," Xeno replied into Stanley's neck, "Can you do that? Can you abide by our wedding vows?"

"I can," Stanley agreed.

Stanley knelt down and then sat on the laboratory floor, holding Xeno in his arms until it was time for his medicine. Xeno wasn't able to get the scans beforehand this morning, but he figured one missed scan would be fine.

Xeno stirred in his sleep, his eyes cracking open to meet the eyes of the figure looming over him. Xeno's eyes widened as consciousness quickly returned to him, and he maintained Stanley's gaze.

He imagined that, if this were a horror movie, this would be the part where the foolish scientist scuttles away from their creation like some sort of beetle or rat. Desperate to hide the terror their body was riddled with, they would ask the monster what they were doing in their room or order them back to the lab. Then the monster would silently advance on the scientist and either choke them or rip them to pieces.

But this wasn't a horror movie.

This was Stanley.

"Stan…" Xeno smiled up at him. "Did you remember where our room was?"

This was good progress. Xeno hadn't taken him around the house yet, still wary of Stanley's motor skills. But Stanley had made his way up here all on his own, not only able to make his way through the house silently, but also remember which room was theirs all on his own.

Xeno couldn't help but smile up at him.

"...Xeno," Stanley replied slowly, his voice still slurred but nearly as strong as it once was. He looked so elegant in the moonlight. The light of the full moon shone like a halo around his skin and hair, almost making him glow ethereally as if he were a specter or an angel. The light glittered off the bolts in his head as well, making it appear as if the stars in the sky lay upon his brow.

He was the very image of elegance itself, and the joy that Stanley was once more alive was nigh overwhelming.

"This is wonderful progress, Stanley," Xeno continued to beam up at him, "You are truly ele-"

In a moment, Stanley was on top of him. His arms framed Xeno's head, and his knees bracketed Xeno's hips. Their faces were mere inches apart so that all Xeno could see was Stanley's eyes as they stared into his own.

"Stanley?" Xeno whispered.

"You brought me back," Stanley whispered, "You brought me back to life."

"Of course," Xeno replied. "Never shall we part, after all."

Stanley closed the distance and pressed his lips to Xeno's, dragging Xeno into his arms as he pinned him to the bed. Xeno felt heat ignite in his chest, quickly spreading out through his entire body as he finally, finally received the touch he'd been longing for ever since Stanley had left for his deployment.

Stan had held him, yes, even kissed him. But those were just ghosts of the touches he had longed for, for what he was receiving in this moment. The way Stanley's arms wrapped around him and held him firmly, the way his lips pressed onto Xeno's own like he wanted to consume him. He felt like the heat burning in his chest and gut was pumping hot air into his brain as Xeno's higher cognitive functions began and ended with Stanley.

Xeno wrapped his arms around Stanley's sides and dug his fingers into Stanley's back as he pressed himself forward, even harder into Stanley's arms. Stanley held him even tighter to his chest as he pushed into Xeno's mouth with his tongue.

He tasted different than before, but only slightly. His mouth lacked the tang of nicotine that always clung to his teeth and tongue before, and Xeno was surprised to find himself missing the taste. Who knows, maybe Stanley would take this opportunity to quit smoking for good.

Who was Xeno kidding? Any lecture on the dangers of nicotine was likely for not now that he had literally brought him back from the dead. Ah well. Xeno couldn't find it in himself to care all that much about it as Stanley's tongue licked along his own and then dragged itself across the top of his soft palate.

Xeno couldn't suppress a moan as Stanley pressed his mouth even harder against Xeno's, his tongue seeming almost desperate to explore every inch of Xeno's mouth. He was rather clumsy at first, but with each passing second, Stanley's ministrations gained skill and purpose. 

Ah, the rival fluid really must be working its magic, helping Stanley's brain redevelop its neural pathways.

Xeno decided to finally pull away, a thick trail of saliva still trailing between their mouths, and tell Stanley as such. "I'm glad to see the revival fluid is working. Even now you're-"

"Shut up, man," Stanley laughed before once more pressing their mouths together and plunging his tongue back into Xeno's mouth, effectively shutting him up. Xeno smiled into the kiss at the familiar response.

Stanley kept Xeno pressed down into his pillow as he reached one of his hands down and grabbed Xeno's thigh. Xeno moaned once again into the kiss at both the sensation of Stanley's hand spreading his leg, moving his own to slot in between Xeno's thighs, and the feeling of Stanley's tongue licking a particularly sensitive part of his mouth.

Finally, when Xeno thought he would pass out from a lack of oxygen, Stanley finally broke off the kiss. But before Xeno could get a single word out, Stanley's mouth was attached to his neck, kissing and licking his throat as Xeno felt Stanley pull his other leg open, solidly slotting himself between Xeno's thighs.

Xeno gasped out as he felt Stanley's palm on his erection, something Xeno had been trying to ignore up until then. But with the way Stanley's palm and fingers began to rub it, stealing all the air from Xeno's lungs, he couldn't block out the arousal from his mind anymore.

"S-Stanley, wait," Xeno gasped, his face burning as Stanley sucked at the junction between his neck and shoulder. In an instant, Stanley stopped moving, and the hand on his dick disappeared, causing Xeno to, much to his embarrassment, buck his hips to try and chase Stan's hand as it retreated.

Stanley's face reappeared above his own, "What's wrong?"

"I- Nothing, I just… Are you sure you're ready?" Xeno asked. "I don't want to push you."

"Last I checked," Stanley smirked, though his lips were just a bit skewed and his voice still slurred ever so slightly, "I was the one grabbing your dick. Not the other way around."

"But you're still not fully healed! Judging by your scans it'll still be a few days-"

"I'm healed enough to want this," Stanley replied before beginning his assault on the other side of Xeno's neck. Xeno opened his mouth to protest once more before all rational thought left his mind as Stanley began grinding his own erection against Xeno's. Xeno's back arched into Stanley's chest as he dug his fingernails into Stanley's back. Suddenly, all Xeno could think about was how they were both wearing too much clothing, a sentiment it seemed Stanley shared as he began quickly unbuttoning Xeno's silk pajamas, peppering kisses along his chest as each inch of flesh was revealed.

Stanley's mouth traveled down his sternum, his lips traced his ribs, and his tongue licked its way down his stomach and down even further.

Xeno's eyes were locked on Stanley's, and Stanley kept his gaze as he pulled off Xeno's pajama pants and boxers at the same time, throwing them to the side, allowing his erection to spring free. Xeno's breath caught in his throat at the sight of his cock resting against Stanley's face.

"S-" Xeno barely got a word out before a groan ripped its way out of his throat as Stanley flattened his tongue against the bottom of Xeno's cock and licked the full length of his shaft, his hot breath heating the tip of his dick. Stan rubbed his lips against his shaft and pressed a series of kisses and licks against the length of his erection.

Xeno's chest was heaving and his face burning as Stan continued to rub his face, lips, and tongue against his cock, but never fully taking it into his mouth. He had to be patient, he kept telling himself, as a mix of pleasure and lack of oxygen made him light-headed. Stanley was rebuilding his neuro pathways. Xeno had to let him move at his own pace. Relearn at his own pace.

Xeno curled his fingers and toes into the sheets as his patience started to wane. He tried to keep himself as still as possible as Stanley continued to tease him with his mouth.

"Stanley," Xeno moaned, his patience finally giving out, "Please! I need more."

Stanley, ever attentive to his needs, obeyed and finally took Xeno into his mouth. Xeno's mouth fell open as a moan ripped itself from his throat, and half of his cock disappeared into Stanley's mouth in a moment. Stanley tilted his head, so instead of his tip sliding down Stanley's throat, it dragged along the inside of his cheek.

Stanley moaned in pleasure, his eyes half lidded as he continued to grind his cock against the silk bed sheets as he sucked Xeno off. With each bob of his head, Xeno could see the head of his own dick through the soft flesh of Stanley's cheek.

Xeno wasn't sure if he could get any harder.

Stanley then tilted his head in the opposite direction, and Xeno's dick slid into Stanley's other cheek, his tongue wrapping around and licking up and down Xeno's cock as he continued to bob his head. Stanley hummed once again, the vibrations traveling along Xeno's length as he seemed to enjoy the feeling of just having Xeno's dick in his mouth.

Much like Stanley had explored every inch of Xeno's mouth with his tongue, Xeno felt as though every inch of Stanley's mouth had been throughly explored by his cock.

But it wasn't enough.

"Stan…" Xeno panted, his face burning and muscles tense, "Stanley please…!"

Stanley fully pulled off Xeno's dick before he resumed nuzzling his erection with his lips. "Fuck Xeno, your cock feels amazing in my mouth," Stanley groaned.

Stanley and his damn oral fixation.

"Please, I need more Sta-ah!" Xeno's begging was cut off by Stanley, in a moment, taking his entire length into his mouth and throat. Xeno's back and knees arched off the bed as his toes dragged along the sheets. Xeno nearly leapt off the bed completely at the heavenly sensation of being completely buried in Stanley's mouth, but his hips were pinned down to the bed by his lover’s grip.

Xeno tried to catch his breath, but before he could Stanley started moving. His pace was fast and brutal, as if he was trying to devour Xeno as a vulgar mix of saliva and pre-cum leaked out of the sides of his mouth, completely covering Xeno's cock and groin.

Xeno couldn't help himself as he writhed, his thighs bracketing Stanley's head, and his hips shallowly thrusting into Stanley's mouth. He could feel the heat coiling in his cock and groin burn hotter and hotter with each time Stanley's lips reached the base of his shaft. Xeno buried his hands in Stanley's hair as he stared down at him, Xeno’s eyes locked on the unblinking stare of his husband as Stanley took him over and over again.

"Stan," Xeno moaned loudly as Stanley hummed around his cock once more, the vibrations so much more intense now that Xeno was buried in his throat, "Stan I'm close."

Stanley just hummed again encouragingly as he picked up his pace. Xeno gritted his teeth as he buried his fingers into Stanley's hair, his fingers brushing against the scars on the back of his skull, and began thrusting as hard as he could into Stanley's mouth. Stanley's eyes glazed over as he let Xeno use his mouth, a reflection of their usual dynamic during sex. One where Xeno was the one in charge and Stanley was his ever obedient partner.

Xeno gritted his teeth and, the moment before orgasmed, lifted Stanley completely off his cock. Xeno felt the explosive pleasure throughout his entire body as he orgasmed, the sensation washing over him in waves as he came all over Stanley's perfect face and in his open mouth. Xeno swore as Stanley grabbed Xeno's cock and pumped it as the ropes of cum covered his face, milking Xeno's orgasm for as long as he could until the last bits of Xeno's jizz dribbled over Stanley's fingers.

Stanley kept staring into Xeno's eyes as he licked the cum off his fingers, causing Xeno to whimper as he practically melted onto the bed.

Stanley let go of Xeno's spent dick and sat up, a satisfied yet hungry grin on his face. Then he pulled off his own shirt and used it to carefully wipe the jizz off his face, something Xeno found himself ever so slightly disappointed by.

"A shame," Xeno slowly caught his breath as he took in every inch of his husband's exposed flesh, "You look quite elegant with my cum on your face."

Xeno felt his heart rate spike as Stanley lifted himself to the kneeling position in order to hook his fingers around his sweatpants and, in one fluid motion, pull it and his underwear down to his knees, his throbbing erection now on full display.

"Hot, Xeno. The word you’re looking for is hot, but I’ll take sexy too,” Stanley replied as he shuffled forward and slotted himself fully between Xeno's thighs, his face leaning over Xeno's own. “But, if you still have energy left after I fuck you into the matress, maybe I'll let you do it again.

It would take a bit until Xeno's body would be as interested as the rest of him to let Stanley do just that, but that was perfectly fine. Stanley would need a bit to prep him anyway.

Xeno glanced at the bedside table where they kept all their supplies and toys, not that Xeno imagined they'd be using them tonight. No. As Stanley shuffled over to the bedside table and leaned over him, giving Xeno a lovely view of his abs and cock, the only thing he wound up retrieving was their bottle of lube.

Stanley leaned back on his heels until he was once more kneeling between Xeno's spread legs, carefully lathering his fingers in the clear substance before tossing the bottle to the side. He leaned back over Xeno, their noses brushing and breath mixing as gently pressed his fingers to Xeno's hole.

Slowly, Stanley pressed a single finger in and Xeno gasped around the stretch of even just the one finger. Stanley glanced down for a moment, then looked back into Xeno's eyes.

"You're tight as hell Xeno," Stanley breathed into his mouth, their lips brushing together as he spoke, "You're not usually this tight, even when I get back from deployment."

"Well usually," Xeno tried his best to relax at the intrusion and breathe through it, "when you're away. I masturbate with the porn collection we made and the dildo I made of your cock."

Stanley hummed in understanding as he pressed himself closer and continued slowly and carefully pumping his finger in and out of Xeno, "Just focus on me and relax."

Xeno curled his arms around Stanley's back and neck, curling his fingers in Stanley's blonde hair as he pulled the man fully in for a kiss.

Slowly, Stanley worked him open with his finger before adding a second as he passionately kissed Xeno. By the time Stanley managed to get his third finger in, Xeno felt his cock twitching with interest again, still he kept himself wrapped around Stanley as their tongues gently but passionately intertwined between their conjoined lips. Xeno's pulse spiked when he felt Stanley's fingers find his prostate and his entire body tensed. 

Stanley smiled into the kiss, "Relax."

"I'm trying-" Xeno cut himself off with another gasp as Stanley's fingers pressed deliberately into the bundle of nerves and Xeno felt his cock jerk up brushing Stanley's stomach.

"Relax…" Stanley once more breathed as he purposefully thrust his fingers into Xeno's prostate over and over again. Xeno couldn't even try to reply as Stanley plunged his tongue right back into Xeno's mouth. Quickly, the soft and gentle passion they'd been engaged in while Stanley worked him open was turning into something more desperate.

Xeno writhed under Stanley, unsure of if he wanted to jut his hips forward to grind his cock into the divot between Stanley's abs, or backward into the fingers aggressively pounding at his prostate. Ultimately Xeno wound up just writhing around aimlessly, half moaning, half begging. 

Xeno nearly wept when Stanley pulled his fingers completely out of him a pulled away, "Please Stan-!"

"Don't worry babe, I got you," Stanley grunted as quickly poured more lube on his hand before fisting his cock, lathering the whole thing up in a few pumps. Then Stanley was right back where he belonged, leaning entirely over Xeno, as pressed the head of his cock to Xeno's stretched out entrance.

"It's still gonna be a tight squeeze," Stanley grunted. "So just hang onto me, okay? Let me know if-"

"Stanley I don't give a shit, I just need you to fuck me right now," Xeno whined as he wrapped his legs around Stanley's hips and pulled him forward, the head of his dick dragging along his ass.

Stanley just chuckled as he re aligned his dick and slowly began to press inside.

All the oxygen in Xeno's lungs left at the sheer stretch as Stanley pressed his head inside. It was so much more than he remembered. But he didn't care, he just tightened his legs around Stanley's hips, urging him forward.

Stanley pressed his mouth to Xeno's neck, latching himself to Xeno's skin as he pressed deeper and deeper into him, his entire body trembling slightly, "Relax Xeno."

Xeno panted as he tried to relax, but it was so difficult because his body felt like he was burning and being electrocuted all while being torn apart in the best ways. But he forced his muscles to relax because he knew the only way to get Stanley to fuck him as hard as they both wanted.

Stanley bottomed out and Xeno let out a shuddering breath as Stanley rested for a moment, his cock fully sheathed inside of Xeno. Stanley panted into the crook of Xeno's neck, and Xeno slowly let his body relax as he dug his fingernails into Stanley's shoulder blades. They rested for just a moment, breathing in the moment as Xeno luxuriated in the feeling.

"Are you ready?" Stanley breathed, his voice rough and breathy as the bolt in the side of his head dug into the flesh of Xeno's shoulder.

Xeno nodded.

"Say it," Stanley kissed the point of his throat right above his carotid artery.

"Please fuck me Stan," Xeno whimpered. Being so docile and inelegant wasn't something he enjoyed, around other people that was. But with Stanley, it was delightful. As if he could reveal even the most delicate, vulnerable parts of himself to the man, knowing full well Stanley would protect them with his life.

He couldn't help how in love with this man he was.

Then, all those mushy thoughts were thrown right out of his mind as Stanley drew back and gave a sharp thrust.

Xeno gasped as Stanley drew back and thrusted again, and again, and again as he slowly began to set a slow but deep pace. Xeno felt his body start to rock back and forth as he hung onto Stanley's body for dear life as the man moved on top of him, fucking him gently, but purposefully. It was a tad painful at first, from the stretch mostly, an the fact that Stanley's fingers weren't as long as penis and couldn't stretch the deepest parts his cock was fucking.

But slowly but surely, the unpleasant sensation melted away as Xeno found himself relaxing more and more into the pleasure as Stanley began to pick up the pace. Xeno shakily unwound one of his hands and grabbed Stanley's chin, tearing his face away from the expanse of his shoulder he'd been licking and sucking at to bring that perfect mouth of his to his own. He dug his fingers into Stanley's hair as he crushed their lips together, forcing his tongue into Stanley's mouth.

Quickly, the room filled with the sounds of their heavy breathing, opened mouth moans, and the slapping sound of skin on skin as Stanley's pace only quicked, spurred on by the soppy makeout. The hand holding Xeno's hip gripped him even harder, keeping him in place as Stanley's cock speared him over and over again. His other hand slowly drug its way up his waist, then his ribs, before carefully dragging his fingers over his chest and settling under his chin, keeping his face pressed to Stanley's.

"F-Fuck," Stanley swore as he broke off the kiss but kept their faces pressed together forehead to forehead.

"Stanley," Xeno moaned.

"Hold on Xeno, I need to-" Stanley cut himself off with a groan before completely pulling out. Xeno gasped as opened his mouth to protest but stopped when Stanley let go of his hip in favor of grabbing the back of his knee. Quickly he threw Xeno's right leg, and then his leg, over his shoulders, folding Xeno in half before he plunged fully back into him in one stroke.

Xeno gasped as electric pleasure shot directly from the base of his spine, up his brain stem and exploded in his head in a single moment. But Stanley didn't hesitate for even a moment as he began plowing into him in a brutal pace. Any semblance of tenderness was gone as he fucked him hard and fast, tense and gasping just as hard as the man pined beneath him.

"Fuck Xeno," Stanley groaned, "You're amazing. So fucking perfect."

"S-Stanley," Xeno desperately tried to get any air in his lungs, light headed from the lack of oxygen and flood of oxytocin and serotonin in his brain. It was all he could do in the moment to wrap one of his hands around the part of Stanley's shoulder not draped in his leg and the other around Stanley's head to shove it into his neck.

He wasn't looking at Stanley anymore, couldn't, he was pretty sure his eyes were rolled back because all he could see was the moonlight hitting the headboard and wall behind it. Even so, he couldn't find it in himself to care, all he could care about was how Stanley's cock was pounding against his prostate and if Stanley kept doing that he was probably going to cum again really damn soon.

"You're so fucking beautiful, and smart as anything," Stanley kept rambling into Xeno's throat. "Smartest man on the fucking planet. Most perfect man on the planet. So fucking wonderful and perfect, and you're all mine."

"Y-Yes Stan," Xeno gasped as he finally managed to drag his eyes back to his lover. Stanley's body was so tense as he curled over Xeno, his arms braced on either side of Xeno's shoulders, holding them still. Xeno could feel the hot breath on his neck and the brush of the bolts in his head digging into his shoulder again and brushing against the underside of his chin.

"Say it," Stanley told him as he picked up the pace, slamming into Xeno's prostate even harder, forcing Xeno to see every constellation in the night sky.

"I-I'm yours," Xeno moaned as he felt himself tense as his orgasm began rapidly approaching, "And your- your mine, Stanley."

Stanley forced one of his hands to let go of Xeno's shoulders and snaked it in between them to fist Xeno's cock, matching the brutal pace he set with his own thrusts. A few pumps were all it really took before Xeno's entire body tensed, and he nearly screamed with how hard his orgasm hit him as he felt his own hot cum paint his stomach and Stanley's hand.

"So fucking perfect," Stanley swore, and a moment later, Xeno felt Stanley slam himself as deep as he could inside him and release his own load of cum inside him. Stanley drew himself back only to thrust back in as another wave of cum filled Xeno, and then with one final thrust, Stanley finished his own orgasm, leaving the couple panting and exhausted.

Carefully, Stanley slid himself out of Xeno and let his legs fall down to a more comfortable position as Xeno desperately tried to collect himself. He was sweaty, hot, sticky, and absolutely exhausted. He didn't have the energy to clean himself up, but he'd be damned if he fell asleep covered in and full of cum, that would be an absolute disaster to clean up later.

Fortunately, his ever attentive husband was already on it.

Stanley pressed a kiss to Xeno's lips, this one much more chaste than any of the others they'd shared that night, but no less affectionate, "Wait here. I'll be right back."

"I await my knight's return," Xeno hummed sleepily before watching Stanley carefully tiptoe out of the room. Xeno smiled as he let himself doze off as his eyes fluttered closed, waiting for Stanley to return.

Perhaps Stanley had a point. He'd been keeping Stanley in the lab because he's been terrified of anything happening to Stanley again, terrified of losing him again. But it was time. Stanley was nearly fully recovered and obviously he was ready to spread his wings and at the very least have free range of the house.

Really, Xeno could only feel grateful Stanley had been so patient with him to allow him to keep him cooped up for so long.

Stanley stepped back into the room and sat down on the bed next to him. Xeno smiled up at him and Stanley smiled right back down at him as he gently cleaned Xeno up with a warm washcloth.

"Thank you Stan," Xeno hummed as Stanley finished cleaning him up.

"It's the least I can do," Stanley told him as he gathered up all the clothes and lube bottle on the bed and tossed it all on the floor. Xeno hummed with a bit of displeasure at that, but it wasn't like he had the energy to do even that much, so he didn't say anything about the mess on the floor.

"Do you mind if I stay up here with you?" Stanley asked, and Xeno cracked his eyes open to look at his husband, who was sitting awkwardly on the edge of the bed next to him.

"Of course you can stay," Xeno replied as he gently pulled Stanley down to lie next to him, their faces a foot apart.

"Are you sure?" Stanley asked, an odd tension in his stiff shoulders. "You've been very worried about my recovery. I don't want to overstep."

"Stanley, I just let you suck my cock and fuck me as close to stupid as I can get," Xeno pointed out. "I think you're right, I've been treating you with kiddie gloves, but I think you're ready, more than ready, to properly live again. I'm just sorry I kept you at arm's length for so long."

Stanley nodded, "It's fine, Xeno, I didn't mind."

Xeno searched Stanley's face. He was tense and refusing to meet Xeno's eyes, and the old tension was drawing Xeno more and more out of his sleepy haze as he tried to figure out what was wrong with his husband. Xeno gently cupped Stanley's chin as he tilted his head up, but even so, Stanley refused to meet his eyes.

"Look at me, Stan," Xeno asked him, and Stanley, just as he always did, obeyed. His eyes were glassy with unshed tears, and it made Xeno's heart clench. "Oh, Stan, come here."

Xeno wrapped his arms around Stanley and pulled the man close, cradling Stanley's head against his chest as he held him there.

"What's wrong, Stanley?" he asked, pressing a kiss to Stanley's hair.

Stanley stayed utterly still for a moment, then he whispered into Xeno's chest so quietly that Xeno was barely able to hear, "I died."

"Yes, Stanley, you did."

Stanley's shoulders began to shake as Xeno felt warm tears begin to soak into the skin of his chest, "I died. I fucking died."

Xeno knew this was coming. It was a subject he'd been careful about, but not one he avoided. He had asked Stanley, towards the beginning, if he remembered dying, to which Stanley had simply looked at him in confusion. Xeno hadn't asked again, but he'd gotten the sense that Stanley still hadn't remembered. His memory had been slowly returning as time progressed and his brain healed, so Xeno knew it was only a matter of time.

So, he held him through it as Stanley sobbed into his chest, his arms wrapped around Xeno in a vice as Xeno gently ran his fingers through Stanley's hair and pressed kisses into the crown of his head.

"I'm sorry," Stanley wailed. "I'm so sorry, Xeno. I'm so sorry I died."

"You have nothing to apologize for," Xeno hummed.

"I left you," Stanley squeezed him even tighter, "I swore I would never leave you alone, and I left you."

"You were taken," Xeno squeezed him back in turn. "You did not leave. You were taken from me, and you came back."

"I love you," Stanley cried, "I promise I won't leave you ever again."

"You never left me in the first place, and I swear to you I won't let anyone take you from me again. I love you too much for that," Xeno smiled into his hair. "You know me, ridiculously possessive and obsessive. I'll never let you go, Stanley."

Stanley nodded furiously into his chest as he continued to weep. Xeno held him close as Stanley slowly began to calm down, but his grip never wavered. Xeno knew the conversation wasn't over, but he was content to let it progress at the pace Stanley was comfortable with. If he wanted to pull away from Xeno's chest and talk about what happened for the next three days straight, Xeno would sit with him and talk it through. And if Stanley wanted to fall asleep against his chest and never mention it again, they'd pretend like it never happened.

Xeno was just glad to have his husband back.

But slowly, Stanley's sobs petered off into sniffles, and then he was finally able to pull himself away and rest his puffy, tear-stained face on the pillow next to Xeno once more. Xeno didn't let Stanley pull entirely away from him as he left his arm curled around Stanley's shoulder, gently rubbing his back.

The pair lay in silence for a long few minutes as Stanley slowly collected himself, and Xeno let him.

"...It didn't feel real," Stanley finally spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. "Like… I knew I had died, you told me I did, and I knew you wouldn't lie, but it just… It was just information. Like when your mom tells you you shoved your arm in a beehive when you were two, but you don't remember it. Sure, it was probably bad, but… It's just something that happens, and you don't remember it, so does it even matter?"

Stanley let out a shaky breath, "I didn't feel any kind of way about it. I knew you were upset about it, and that made me sad, but besides that- It just… It just felt like I had fallen asleep in the barracks, and then I woke up and- and everything was wrong, everything hurt, and I didn't understand what was going on, and it was- it was horrible. But you were there, and I knew you, so I knew, despite how awful everything was, it was going to be okay."

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Stanley," Xeno apologized, "If there was another way-"

"I'm fine," Stanley assured him, "I'm fine now. I just meant that I fell asleep there and woke up here, and it was… I didn't really understand that I was here because I died. I knew it, intellectually, but I didn't understand."

"That is, until tonight," Stanley lifted his hand to hold onto the forearm Xeno had wrapped around him. "I had a nightmare…"

Xeno swallowed hard and waited as Stanley's breathing quickened and his body tensed once more. "I… I was waiting in my perch, my target in sight, and I took the shot. Got him right through the temple, instant killshot. But obviously, the enemy figured out where I was from the sound."

Xeno felt himself tense as Stanley continued, "We don't have to talk about it-"

"It's okay," Stanley assured him, "I want to talk about it. Besides, I'm sure that head of yours has come up with all sorts of horrible things."

Xeno nodded, his throat clogged as he silently let Stanley continue.

"We began extraction, but there were more of them than we thought. Charlotte was my spotter, and we were rushing out of the building, but they were already inside. Our team was coming to help us out, but they were already there and-"

Stanley swallowed hard, tension wracked his body, but he forced himself to continue, spitting the words out like they were poison, "We rounded the corner, and there was a man with a fucking rocket launcher. Who uses one of those things in a fucking building?! I saw and shoved Charlotte back the way we came. We got a good ten feet back down the hallway when the thing detonated against the wall. I tried to block the blast for Charlotte and protect her, I don't fucking know how well that went-"

"She survived," Xeno replied. "Had a lengthy stay in hospital but made it out in time for your funeral."

Stanley smiled weakly at that, "That's good to hear, she's a good soldier."

"I'd have preferred if she had died instead," Xeno replied without even a shred of remorse. He knew that if anyone else had heard him, they'd be aghast and admonish him for saying something so horrible.

But Stanley just nodded, not offended, just understanding.

"It didn't even hurt at first. I just remember trying to take the next step and being confused when I started falling. Then I tried to brace my fall and was confused when I fell face-first on the ground. It didn't even hurt until I looked down and realized my fucking arm and leg were gone. I tried to speak only to realize a piece of debris must have hit my square in the jaw because half of that was gone too," Stanley laughed as he rubbed his now intact jaw.

"I remember Charlotte screaming, but fortunately for us, the rocket collapsed the part of the building we'd just come from. We were in a dead end, but that just left one direction for us, or Charlotte, to fire. She sat me up against the rubble and told me it was going to be okay, but we knew it wasn't."

Stanley pulled Xeno in closer, pressing their foreheads together, "Charlotte did great. Stood her ground and killed so many of the bastards all by herself. I couldn't help even if I wanted to, because my mind was just racing as I realized I was dying. I knew that I should be helping, but all I could think about was how bad it hurt, and how scared I was."

"A perfectly human reaction," Xeno assured him.

"I wasn't even scared of dying, Xeno," Stanley admitted, his voice becoming even softer, "I was terrified of what was going to happen to you."

Xeno stared into Stanley's golden eyes as he stared right back at him. Xeno couldn't even find it in himself to be surprised at that; he had suspected Stanley's last thoughts were of him. Most of Stanley's thoughts were of him.

"In my mind, you were standing at my grave, and the universe in your eyes was completely gone. Leaving nothing but a yawning black abyss, and I knew that I had killed that light in your eyes, and it made me sick. I knew me dying would hurt you, I knew I swore that I would come back. And I knew I couldn't do anything about it," Stanley shuddered as he tightened his grip around Xeno's shoulder, a pair of tears leaking out of his eyes as he tried to blink them away.

"I knew that my death would destroy you; you never wanted to be apart from me, and the worst part is, I knew I couldn't fix it. I knew I couldn't hold you through the pain and get you a coffee and cook you food and comfort you because I'd be fucking dead and you'd be alone. I remember fading away for the last time as Charlotte begged me to stay awake, and all I could think was how terrified I was that you'd kill yourself to be with me again in the afterlife or the dirt or whatever."

Xeno didn't reply, just held Stanley as he broke down in tears again, gently rubbing circles into his back.

"I was fucking dead, Xeno," Stanley sobbed. "Dead. They buried me, and I was gone. Does anyone even know I'm alive?"

"They don't," Xeno whispered, "I haven't told anyone yet."

"We should tell them," Stanley sniffled, "I… I'm not sure about rejoining the Marines, but we should at least tell the squad I'm alive."

Xeno hesitated, but nodded. Stanley deserved his life back. Xeno had brought him back to life, but really, he was yet to actually enjoy that life at all. It had just been scans and tests in front of a camera and being prodded with needles and restrained to beds. He'd been living as a lab rat; he deserved to live as a person.

But Xeno knew as soon as they saw him, once the initial relief of having Stanley back faded, one single question would be on their minds.

"...Xeno," Stanley asked, his voice careful, "I… I hadn't really thought about it until now. But when I died, my arm and leg had been blown off. Where… Where did these limbs come from?"

Xeno did reply, just took a deep breath, held it, and then let it out. This was the moment of truth, he supposed. This was the moment where Stanley would either be able to return to his old life…

…Or he'd become complicit in triple homicide.

The silence stretched on, but Stanley didn't pull away, and neither did Xeno as he continued to silently rub Stanley's back.

"How many?" Stanley asked, his voice calm.

"How many what, Stanley?" Xeno asked.

"How many people did you kill to get the body parts I needed?" Stanley clarified, his voice still calm and even.

Xeno remained silent for a moment before whispering, "Three."

The pair lay silently in each other's arms, the only sounds in the room being their soft breathing as the information lay heavily on their minds. For a moment, Xeno was scared Stanley would shove him away, reject him, and call him a horrible monster for what he'd done to those men.

But this was Stanley.

Stanley would never leave him.

"Where are the bodies?" Stanley asked.

"I dissolved them and buried the resulting mixture in a hole in the forest. They won't be found," Xeno assured him, and he felt Stanley nod.

"Good, take me to it tomorrow, I want to check for myself to make sure the cops won't find anything."

Xeno curled even further into Stanley's arms, sighing, and Stanley held him even closer.

"In a way, I'm glad," Stanley pressed a kiss to his cheek, "I knew you'd kill someone, I'm just so glad it wasn't yourself."

"I did think about it," Xeno admitted. "Right after the call informing me you died, I spent the next four hours getting my projects in order, so other people would be able to take over for me. Then I was going to use one of the guns you kept in the gun safe on myself."

Stanley's fingers dug into the flesh of his back, and Xeno cupped the side of Stanley's face, "But ultimately, I decided that bringing you back to life was a much more elegant solution."

"Damn right it is," Stanley replied before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his lips. "I swear to you, Xeno, I'll never let anyone separate us again."

"I'll hold you to that," Xeno replied. "Or else I'll have to bring you back again."

Stanley smiled and kissed him again before pulling him into his chest and holding him close. Xeno wrapped his arms around Stanley as well and let his eyes flutter closed, finally allowing himself to give into the heavy cloud of sleep that had been looming over his mind, safe in his husband's arms.

When Xeno woke up to his five am alarm, he was alone in bed. For the briefest of moments, Xeno thought that what had happened last night had been a wonderful dream, but the clothes and bottle of lube still scattered on the floor, as well as his own nakedness, quickly affirmed the reality of what had happened.

Xeno sat up and stretched his aching muscles. He usually tried to keep up with a regular stretching routine since he and Stanley liked to get… Creative with positions, but he'd let himself slip in his routine, and now he was paying for it. Ah well, it was well worth it, he decided as he grabbed a black silk robe and tied it around his body to cover himself before wandering out of their bedroom and down the stairs.

The air was filled with the smell of Stanley's delicious cooking, and Xeno could already feel his mouth watering at the prospect of digging into a meal prepared by his husband. He'd been cooking for both of them for the past three months since Stanley came back to life, but he was hardly the chef his husband was. Ever since they were children, Stanley cooked for him and he'd only gotten better with time.

"What is that elegantly divine smell, my dear Stanley?" Xeno asked as he finally reached the bottom of the stairs and turned to look into the kitchen. 

Stanley turned to him, smiling in his sweatpants and apron. "It's just eggs and bacon, nothing special."

"My husband is making my breakfast, that's special," Xeno grinned as he sat at the kitchen counter and watched his husband maneuver around the kitchen while preparing the food. Xeno used to try to help cook, but eventually he realized Stanley simply liked cooking and liked doting on Xeno and caring for him. He still helped sometimes, but those times were more because the point was that they were making something together.

For this moment, Xeno was content to admire the way the muscles in Stanley's back rippled under his patchwork skin, and Stanley was content to finish up the meal on his own.

Soon it was time to plate, and Stanley slid two dishes across the table, one in front of Xeno and the other right next to him, where Stanley then sat down after removing his apron. Xeno couldn't find it in himself to complain about the truly elegant view of his husband's newly redeveloped muscles, even if he usually preferred them to be fully dressed around the house.

"We need to do your scans after breakfast," Xeno told him as he picked up a piece of perfectly cooked bacon. "So we can make sure your development is on track and record the data."

"Sure," Stanley nodded as he shoved a forkful of eggs into his mouth, "What's with all the videos though? Like, I get that you're recording all the data and making videos of my progress, but you keep talking like you're talking to someone else during them."

"I'm explaining to the scientists who will eventually watch the videos and study my findings on how to bring people back to life," Xeno explained. "Such a scientific discovery can't just be covered up forever, Stanley. The world has to know what's truly possible for the sake of the advancement of science itself!"

"...You don't mention you killed people during the whole process… Do you?" Stanley frowned as he swallowed another forkful of eggs.

Xeno took a long sip of his coffee, staring into Stanley's eyes, before replying, "I plan to release my research a very long time from now."

"I knew it…" Stanley pinched the bridge of his nose, "We need to make sure that research doesn't see the light of day until we're old as fuck or already dead, understand?"

Xeno nodded as he spread a bit of strawberry jam on his toast, "That was always my intention."

The pair continued to enjoy their breakfast, talking about everything and nothing at all, simply enjoying being together once again. When that was done, Stanley cleaned the dishes while Xeno brought the necessary medical equipment to the coffee table in front of the living room couch. Stanley laid down on the couch, his head resting on Xeno's lap, as Xeno carefully attached the device to his head and turned on the machine. Stanley let his eyes flutter closed as he rested, simply allowing the machine to do its work.

"Xeno," Stanley mumbled, and Xeno hummed in response, "What are we going to do?"

"What do you mean, Stanley?"

"People can't see me, Xeno," Stanley told him, "If they see me, they'll know what you did."

Xeno wanted to card his hand through his hair, but with the helmet and electrodes, that wasn't possible at the moment, so he just rubbed circles on Stanley's chest.

"You could go back to your old life," Xeno replied, "You haven't done anything wrong. You had no part in-"

Stanley's hand grabbed Xeno's in a vice-like grip, and when Xeno looked down into his lap, he could see Stanley's burning stare drilling into him. "I'm not leaving you again, and I won't let them take you either."

"Then we'll move," Xeno hummed. "Somewhere far away, build a new mansion somewhere in the wilderness, and I'll make a new laboratory. I'll contribute to science through independent research and you'll be free to live openly somewhere nobody will recognise who you are."

"What about NASA?" Stanley asked.

"I quit five months ago," Xeno told him.

"...Xeno."

"They wouldn't have given me enough time to save you," Xeno continued to rub circles into his chest, "And this way, I'll finally get to do my own projects without the old bastards finally being out of my way."

"Are you sure?" Stanley asked him.

Xeno brought his hand up to Stanley's cheek and rubbed his thumb along the scar on his cheek, "Never shall we part, my love. I think I've already proven I'm willing to do anything to stay by your side."

Stanley hums, and the machine lets out a long beep. Xeno quickly removed the scanners and electrodes from Stanley's head as he shuffled forward to examine the results.

"What's the diagnosis, doc?" Stanley asked.

Xeno smiled back at him. "You're very close to a clean bill of health, but for now, it's time for your dosage," he said before patting his lap.

Stanley rolled his eyes with a smile, but obeyed and lay on his side as Xeno carefully retrieved the syringe of revival fluid and uncapped it. He pressed the plunger on the bottom of the syringe to ensure there wasn't any air in the syringe before carefully unscrewing the bolt on Stanley's head.

Carefully, he removed the bolt before carefully plunging the needle into the tube and into Stanley's exposed brain. The first time he did this he was a little worried about staring down into the metal tube and seeing Stanley's brain, but with how thin the tube was, it was really just a dark hole, impossible to see anything within. Quickly, as soon as the medicine was administered, he secured the bolt back onto Stanley's head.

"Other side," Xeno patted him on the shoulder, and Stanley flipped around, now lying facing Xeno's stomach.

"Does it hurt?" Xeno asked, "It shouldn't."

"There's a slight pinch, I guess," Stanley replied as Xeno administered the medication.

"That's like due to the needle puncturing the dura and pia, which are the protective layers between your brain and skull. You see, while your brain itself lacks pain nerves, rendering it unable to experience pain itself, the du-"

"I get it, I get it," Stanley chuckled, causing Xeno to quickly remove the needle with a scowl.

"Please don't laugh while I have a needle in your brain. We're trying to cure your brain damage, not cause more."

"My bad," Stanley replied before sitting up once Xeno had made the last turn to secure the bolt in his skull. Stanley brought his hand to Xeno's chin and pressed a kiss to his lips, causing Xeno's heart to flutter in his chest. "Forgive me?" he asked, his breath ghosting along Xeno's lips.

"I suppose when you apologize like that…" Xeno smiled, "But I could use more convincing."

"I can be really convincing when I want to be," Stanley grinned before pressing back into Xeno with another kiss. They stayed there for what could have been minutes or hours; Xeno wasn't counting. Not the seconds, at least, no, instead he was counting how many kisses he could get out of Stanley before the other man pulled away.

The answer wound up being seventy-four before Stanley finally pulled away, "We should head out to the forest."

"Oh, the forest?" Xeno hummed playfully, "How naughty, Stanley. What do you want to do out there?"

Stanley chuckled at that, but the mirth quickly disappeared from his expression, "I want to check on where you buried the bodies. Once that's squared away, we can get started on preparing to move."

Xeno sighed and nodded, "Right. Yes. We should do that."

Quickly, the pair got dressed and laced up their boots to begin their trek into the forest surrounding their home. It was peaceful, despite the reason for their trek, as the morning sun pierced the tree canopies, cool morning dew clung to their skin, and the birds' songs rang through the air. It brought back good memories of Stanley taking him through the forest, and for the first time in nearly six months, Xeno could finally reminisce with Stanley instead of just about him.

"Do you remember all the times you used to drag me through these woods to camp? As if we didn't have a perfectly good house?" Xeno huffed as he turned to look at Stanley as he, much more elegantly than Xeno did, trekked through the forest.

Stanley grinned, "We also have a perfectly good few acres of private property to camp in. Camping is fun."

Xeno wrinkled his nose, "Sleeping in the dirt and getting eaten by insects is hardly what I would consider fun. It's inelegant and pointless."

"We got some pretty great views of the sky from the hill up that way," Stanley gestured to the side, where, past the thick trees, there was a tall, very difficult-to-climb hill a good ten miles away.

"We have an observatory," Xeno countered.

"Yeah," Stanley relented, "but you have to admit that lying on a blanket and staring at the sky while you told me the names of all the constellations was, as you would say, pretty damn elegant."

Xeno couldn't hide his smile at that, nor did he try to. Yes. He supposed that camping did have its elegant moments to it.

"How much longer till we reach the spot?" Stanley asked.

"We've just arrived," Xeno stated as he stopped to lean against a nearby tree. "I invite you to search the area to your heart's content."

Stanley's eyes widened a fraction, but he nodded, "This is closer to the house than I'd like. Only a twenty-minute trek."

"Forgive me, but it took me several hours with the container," Xeno sighed, "It was quite heavy even with the wheels, and I'm not exactly the most athletic."

"You see," Stanley hummed as he poked around the underbrush and examined the dirt and soil throughout the area, "This is why I keep telling you to go to the gym and exercise with me."

"To better be able to hide the dead bodies of my victims?" Xeno asked.

"If you have to," Stanley replied. "Though I will admit that wasn't the first thing that came to mind when I suggested it."

"Well," Xeno crossed his arms, "I'll have you know I did actually go to a gym for a few weeks while working on your recovery."

"You did?" Stanley whirled around, "Seriously?! You? At a gym?"

"I was… looking for suitable materials," Xeno shrugged, and Stanley hummed in understanding, his eyes darting to his leg.

"Makes sense…" Stanley hummed as he continued to poke around. Xeno was content to watch his husband thoroughly search the area, and an odd feeling of warmth spread in his chest at how devoted Stanley was to Xeno, not getting into legal trouble for his crimes.

And yet, some part of him felt as if he didn't deserve it.

"Stanley," Xeno began, "I should confess something."

"What is it?" Stanley glanced at him as he continued to search the area.

"The people I killed, they suffered. Quite a lot," Xeno admitted. "The first man I bled out while he was still conscious. He begged me to stop as he got weaker, but I ignored him. The second and third man I caused brain death to before harvesting their parts, but I also did quite a few experiments on them to test the effects of revival fluid on the brain. I tested how well it worked and what the best dosage was. I tested how different medications, such as pain medications, interacted with the revival fluid. I tested how best to administer it and its effectiveness across different parts of the brain. And I did these tests by purposefully afflicting them with brain damage over and over again," Xeno continued to confess, no longer looking at his husband.

"I knew that first month would be torture for you because it was for them. They didn't die peacefully, and, to be entirely honest, if I were given the option to go back and alter my decisions, I wouldn't. I would do it again, because regardless of how immoral, unethical, and inelegant my actions were, they brought you back to me," Xeno concluded. "But I wanted you to know that. I wanted you to know that I'm not the same man you married anymore. So you could change you-"

Stanley was in front of him now, pressing him to the trunk of the tree he was leaning on as Xeno's eyes snapped to him. His golden irises were all he could see as Stanley cupped his face in his hand.

"Whatever you do or have done, it's fine, Xeno," Stanley assured him, "It's my privilege to love every version of you."

Xeno let out a shuddering breath as a weight lifted off his chest that he hadn't realized was weighing on him. Now, the burden of the sin buried beneath their feet was no longer just Xeno's to bear, but both of theirs. That sin was the price of being together again, and it was a price they were both willing to pay.

And if that meant they were damned to hell, at least it meant they were damned together.

'Never shall we part.'

"When I was at war, Xeno, I didn't always shoot to kill," Stanley told him. Xeno's eyebrow twitched in confusion, but he let Stanley continue. "As it turns out, sometimes the best way to draw out the enemy isn't to just shoot them as soon as you see an idiot peek their head out, but wait."

"You wait until they crawl out of their hole, tentatively sure that the cost is clear, then once they're somewhere nice and open, shoot them in the leg, or the side, or somewhere else that'll hurt real fuckin' bad."

"Cause then," Stanley continued, "they'll scream. They scream and shout and beg for their buddies to help them. And that's when you can really get them. That's when you shoot everyone that comes to help their comrade straight through the skull."

"My point is we've both done horrible shit, Xeno," Stanley kissed him on the forehead, "And we're both still here."

Xeno wrapped his arms around Stanley, and the pair just held each other for a long moment. Xeno could feel Stanley's heart beating steadily in his chest, and it felt good, it felt right. It was right.

Because Xeno had done it.

He'd fixed him.

Stanley was back in his arms, and everything was finally right again.

Then, eventually, Stanley draws back and sighs, "Alright, I'm stumped. Where'd you bury them?"

"You were actually standing on it before," Xeno gestured to the spot of short grass and rocks. It was less developed than the rest of the forest floor due to the harsh chemicals, but Xeno had been working on it, pouring nutrifying agents and fertilizer into the soil. Now, after months, some vegetation was finally returning. Not much, but it was much better than a suspicious deadspot.

Stanley bent down and regarded the soil as well, rubbing some of the dirt between his fingers, "Huh. You did a really good job."

Xeno scoffed, "Did you seriously expect anything else? I assure you that while I may not be a gardener or landscaper, any job I perform, I do so elegantly."

"Of course," Stanley grinned. "Anyway, I'm satisfied, let's head home."

Xeno smiled and stood back up straight, gesturing for Stanley to lead the way back home, to which Stanley happily obliged.

It was odd to think that they would be leaving their home very soon. They had designed it together, picked out the plot of land together, and painted and furnished it together. It was their dream home and they loved every inch of it. But, ultimately it was just a home, and building a new one would only give them opportunities for improvement.

Xeno's mind was already alight with ideas he was more than happy to share with Stanley on how they could build their new home better than the one they had now. How they could improve on the elegance of their current home whilst still elevating it above what they could have imagined the first time they planned a home together. Stanley mostly listened, adding in his own thoughts every now and then, but mostly he just seemed happy to let Xeno ramble.

However, something strange happened as soon as they broke the treeline and stepped back into their backyard. Stanley froze in place, his eyes widening as he let Xeno take a few steps past him. Xeno frowned in confusion before he turned his head to look in the direction Stanley was staring.

There was a person in their backyard.

Charlotte was in their backyard.

Xeno felt his entire body tense as he stared at her, and she stared directly at Stanley.

For a moment, Xeno couldn't manage a single thought as he saw Charlotte start to tremble, tears welling up in her eyes as she stared at Stanley, the commanding officer who died on her watch.

Then, as soft as a whisper, she spoke, "C-Commander?"

"Charlotte," Stanley swallowed, and that was all the permission Charlotte needed as she sprinted forward and threw herself into Stanley's arms, sobbing into his chest. Awkwardly, Stanley wrapped his arms around her as she wailed, but his eyes locked on Xeno's.

At that moment, Xeno knew they were both thinking the same thing.

This was very, very bad.

"What are you doing here, Charlotte?" Xeno asked as he sat down across from her, with her on the couch and him in an armchair. "I don't remember inviting you over."

"I…" Charlotte trailed off as she held the mug of steaming hot coffee to her chest, still rattled from her earlier discovery. Stanley had left the pair alone, as seeing him may make it a bit harder to have a calm discussion with emotions running so high. "We were worried about you, Xeno."

"I believe I stayed in contact," Xeno replied, and he took a sip of his own coffee.

"Through texts and the occasional phone call," Charlotte shot back. "You never wanted to come out with us after the funeral, and anytime we came by, you'd just shoo us away while looking like death."

"I think we both know I looked better than death," Xeno couldn't help the snipe as he paused his sipping just long enough to speak.

Charlotte flinched but continued, "But I guess I understand now why you locked yourself away. Have you been working on bringing Stanley back to life this whole time?"

"Yes," Xeno confirmed, "Though he's only regained all of his mental faculties recently."

"This is- this is great, Xeno," Charlotte beamed, "You brought him back! The commander is-"

More tears started streaming down her face as she bit back another sob. Xeno bit back a sigh at the sight and offered her a cloth napkin to dry her tears, which she graciously accepted. He remained silent, sipping his coffee as he got a hold of herself slowly.

"This is perfect," Charlotte finally sniffled, "You really are a genius, Xeno."

"Yes, I am."

Charlotte beamed at him, "How did you do it?"

There it was.

While Xeno would have liked to delight in Stanley and Charlotte's reunion and Stanley finally being able to reconnect with his comrades, he knew this question was coming. And he knew where this question would take them.

"I cut away the decayed and damaged flesh, muscles, organs, and bones, then I obtained replacements for all the missing parts. After that, I utilized two medicines I developed myself based off-"

"Wait," Charlotte frowned, "Obtained replacements? Like for his arm and leg?"

"Correct."

"How did you…?" Charlotte's expression fell even further in confusion and concern.

"You're not an idiot, Charlotte. I'm sure you can figure out what I did," Xeno placed his mug down on the coffee table.

"You…" Charlotte's expression finally twisted in horror, "You killed someone?"

"Three people, actually," Xeno admitted. There was no point in hiding any of this. He could come up with some elaborate lies about how he obtained the body parts from a hospital that had bodies that were donated to science, but those were lies that would fall apart eventually.

Best to just be upfront, that way the potential fallout could be contained. Who knows, maybe Charlotte would be reasonable, but with the look on her face, he doubted it.

"You killed three people?" Charlotte gaped at him in horror as she shakily placed her own mug next to the medical machine that was still sitting from earlier that morning.

"You've killed many more people than that," Xeno rolled his eyes, "I hardly see why you're acting so scandalized."

Charlotte bristled, "I'm a soldier, Xeno, we kill people to serve our country. We don't go around butchering innocent people!"

"Well, maybe if you had died instead of him, they'd still be alive," Xeno snapped, and some sick part of him trilled in satisfaction as Charlotte visibly recoiled from the comment. Her lip trembled for a moment as more tears welled up in her eyes, but he quickly wiped them away as her expression hardened.

"Do you think I don't feel guilty about that?" Charlotte ground out, "Do you think a moment doesn't go by where I wish it had been me instead of him? That I don't wonder if I had been a bit more capable, he wouldn't have died protecting me?"

"Well I'm glad we're on the same page then," Xeno looked down his nose at the woman. "Because let's be clear. I don't give a shit how bad you feel because those tears of yours put him in the ground. I was the one who dug him back up. I was the one that did what had to be done to fix him. I was the one who brought him back."

"You're sick in the head," Charlotte spat back at him as she stood from the couch, her entire body trembling in likely a mix of rage and acute trauma. "You're just- you're just sick Xeno."

"I'm not sick, I'm right!" Xeno slammed his hand against the arm of his chair before  he stood as well, "I knew I could fix him and I did! I saved him! So you can wish all you want that you have been better, but I am better! So I don't give a damn about those three leeches on society, their sacrifices to science will be noted and that is the only thought I will spare them. Really, they should be given fucking medals for saving the life of someone so much more important then they could have ever hoped to be!"

"I'm calling the police," Charlotte's hand trembled as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, "You can get help in whatever asylum for the criminally insane they send you to, and Stanley can-"

Charlotte was cut off by both the loud bang of a pistol going off and the bullet that ripped through her temple. Xeno watched impassively as she crumbled to the floor, blood and brain matter spilling all over the rich mahogany floor. Xeno paused for a moment, taking in the sight of her corpse before turning to her killer.

Stanley stared sadly down at her body as he walked out of the kitchen, lowering the Glock in his hand.

"I'm sorry you had to do that, Stanley," Xeno finally broke the silence after a long moment.

Stanley just shook his head, "She was a good soldier and a friend. This fucking sucks."

"I'm sorry," Xeno repeated himself quieter this time, "I should have been gentler with her."

Stanley pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, placing the gun down on the counter as he lit up. "She never would have agreed with what we did. She was too nice."

The pair stood in the silent house for a long moment as Stanley took a long drag of his cigarette, holding the smoke in his lungs for ten seconds before letting it out in one long huff.

"What now? I assume you have a plan on how to deal with this? She would have told people she was coming here to check on you," Stanley turned his attention to Xeno.

Xeno just smiled, "Of course I have a plan. I developed it the second I saw her in our yard, but I'll require your assistance. So Stanley, can you help me?"

Stanley smirked, his smile finally just as elegant as it had been the last time Xeno had seen him before his deployment and his voice crystal clear and smooth. "Yeah, I can."

They would never be parted again.