[C][M] Astringent Fate

His arm draped over the taller man's hip as they walked together, Hayden happily snuggling in as Dario held him close.

"Doesn't have to be a full bed, even a mattress would be better than sleeping on the couch."

It was hard having very little money, he chipped in where he could, the apartment would have functioned much more easily and better if the other two actually contributed instead of being leeches and stealing what little Dario had left over after paying all the bills.

The thought of it always made him mad, it wouldn't be that bad, but they weren't even grateful in the slightest.

"We'll see what we can find."

If they could find something that they could comfortably sleep on at a reasonable price, Dario would be happy.

"Shall we go sit in the park or something after we're done shopping?"

Spending some time out in the sun would be nice.

He'd almost been completely nocturnal recently.

"Can we go sit on the beach?"

He asked, he was feeling sentimental and slowly getting over his fear of the ocean, it was nice to just sit there and look at it, watching the waves was calming.

Plus a little sun and some sand between his toes would feel nice.

Hayden padded into the store, got onto his tip toes and gave Dario one last little kiss before padding off through the aisles to see what he could find.

His little copper head could be seen every so often, ducking through racks and peeking through boxes.

"Of course."

Sitting on the beach would be nice.

Dario hadn't been down to the beach for a long time. It was almost sad. He used to love going surfing with Liq and Aodh when the sun was bright.

It had been a long time since he had done that.

He'd have to gather everyone and go out surfing again at some point soon.

Dario himself set out to find a bed.

Hayden was sorting through a bunch of stuff located in a rather large crate, being vertically challenged he had to lean over the edge of it to actually be able to see the things inside since it was only a quarter full.

He was leaning in sorting through a bunch of electronic cables before he leaned too far and ended up with his top half inside the crate with a loud yelp as he fell over the edge, his feet sticking up in the air as he clung to the edge.

"Dario! Man down!"

He called out, this was a rather large store and they were pretty much the only ones inside but despite that Hayden was blushing, which he would promptly blame on the blood rushing to his head.

Dario looked up when he heard the distress call.

He headed towards the call, laughing when he saw his boyfriends feet sticking out of a large crate.

"Up we get," he chuckled, lifting Hayden out of the crate and nuzzling against him.

"How'd you manage that?"

"My hero!"

Hayden shook himself off as he was hoisted out of the crate, dusting off his clothes as he nuzzled up against the man, pressing a kiss to his cheek in gratitude.

"I leaned in too far and went bottoms up."

He muttered shyly as his cheeks became dusted with pink, it didn't help that his arms were still tired from carrying that basket home, he couldn't lift his own body weight.

Dario chuckled and ruffled Hayden's hair.

"Be a little more careful."

As much as he would love saving Hayden all the time, he didn't want the boy to get hurt falling over.

"I haven't found a bed yet."

He'd find one eventually, but right now there was nothing.

Dario leaned down to press a kiss to Hayden's lips before pulling away.

"I will."

He muttered, beaming up at the man, no more getting stuck in crates or falling over.

Sometimes he couldn't help it, he got curious and then he ended up with his feet sticking out of a box.

"Need some help?"

He asked, taking the man's hand, he hadn't found much yet either.

"Good boy."

All he could ask was that Hayden tries to be careful. Dario would feel terrible if Hayden got hurt and he was around but hadn't stopped it.

"Sure. Let's go find us a bed."

The whole point of today was to find a bed for them.

Hayden had ventured into this store many times, it was the largest one of its kind in town, luckily he knew where a lot of the stuff was hidden, it was hard finding your way around the warehouse.

He held Dario's hand firmly and lead him down the back where the bigger items were kept, here they had an entire row of mattresses and frames.

"Dario look~"

He muttered, pointing out a whole bunch of them that were still in their plastic covers.

That just raised questions, who was buying mattresses then never using them? Some people were so wasteful.

"This one looks comfy."

He add, squishing it with his hand, unable to pull it out of the sideways stack to test it.

Ah, there we go. There were the beds.

Dario pulled the mattress out a little when Hayden struggled with it.

This was an advantage that his build had. He was strong enough to do the heavy jobs that tiny little Hayden couldn't do.

"I think it looks good."

It'd be a good enough alternative to sleeping on the couch all the time.

Hayden waited until Dario had pulled it out before pouncing onto the mattress.

Despite the worn plastic that covered it the mattress inside was brand new and surprisingly very comfortable.

"It's perfect."

The boy purred, it was softer than Dario's mattress and he much preferred a soft mattress to a firmer one.

He rummaged around for a moment trying to find a price tag, he found the little red tag and looked up at the man happily.

It was a steal, it was priced the same as the really horrible stained mattresses, only thirty five Euros.

Dario laughed as he watched Hayden pounce on the mattress.

"Perfect, huh?"

Well, if Hayden thought it was perfect, he'd trust the boy's judgement.

"Do you want to carry on looking around for a little longer before we pay?"

Hayden sprawled out on it with a purr, there was plenty of space for the both of them, more so considering the fact that Hayden normally slept curled up on Dario's chest.

"Do you think if we pay for it now they will hold it for us until we head back home?"

He asked, there was a few other little stores he wanted to have a look at before they went back to the apartment and it would be cruel to have Dario lugging around a large mattress since there was no way he would be able to carry it.

"We can ask."

He didn't see any reason why they wouldn't. It was a very small ask.

"Does that mean you're done here or do you still want to look around some more?"

Dario wasn't a huge fan of shopping. He always saw a lot of things he liked but didn't have the money to buy.

"Yeah I'm done here."

He had been in here a few day ago just looking around as he waited for Dario's shift to be over, he hadn't really seen anything that striked him as a must have item.

Instead he would save his money and buy something that he would get more use out of.

"There is somewhere else that I would just like to have a look at though."

He muttered, a small dusting of pink appearing on his cheeks, he hadn't gone in there before, it would be an experience. More so taking Dario with him.

"All right, let's go pay for this then we can go."

Dario gave the boy a smile as he lifted the mattress rather easily and padded towards the counter.

The exchange was quick and soon the two were leaving the store with a promise to be back to pick up the mattress in a little while.

"So, where to now?"

Hayden didn't want to say it out loud as such he took Dario's hand and led the man to the store he had passed countless times but never built the courage up to enter in.

He looked up at Dario nervously as he chewed on his bottom lip softly, pushing the door open and pulling the man in.

It was an adult store and the boy looked very out of place among the rows of toys and costumes.

His cheek flushed darker and he hid in against Dario's side, nuzzling against him.

Dario arched a brow as Hayden pushed open the door.

This wasn't what he was expecting.

His fingers ran through Hayden's hair when he hid against his side. It had obviously taken a lot of courage for the boy to bring him in here.

He wouldn't poke fun at him, no matter how funny it would be to do so.

He nuzzled up against Dario as his hair was stroke, he was nervous but excited, he hadn't expected there to be so much stuff in the rather small store.

His hand gripped Dario's tightly as they slowly walked through the isles. He wasn't entirely sure what he was looking for, all he knew was that he wanted something fun that the two of them could use together, something they would both enjoy.

As they moved through the store quietly something caught Hayden's eye that made him pause for a moment.

Rows upon rows of tails connect to... his face flushed a little darker, he had admired these online for a long time, but seeing one for real had his heart beating a little faster.

Dario looked around at the same slow pace Hayden did.

It had been a little while since he had last been in a store like this. He just couldn't afford all the lovely toys. The only time he came in here was when he was in desperate need of a new costume.

His eyes flickered down when Hayden paused, then turned to what the boy was staring at.

His tongue laved over his lower lip slowly.

Those were...wow.

His eyes fell on a certain one and he was immediately in love, the fur matched his hair perfectly, it was smooth yet fluffy, in a beautiful copper colour tapering slowly to white at the tip, the plug on the end made of glass.

The boy subconsciously gave the tiniest little whine as his toes curled in his shoes and his grip on Dario's hand tightened a little.

His eyes flicked up to Dario for a moment, his cheeks flush and a lustful look in his bright eyes.

His gaze turned back to it, his hand tentatively reaching out and stroking through the soft fur, it felt so real, the texture was perfect.

He knew he would be spending all of the money he had earned this morning on the one item, he had intended to buy something everyone could use but this... he felt an actual need to have it.

Dario returned Hayden's lustful look with a crooked little smile of his own.

He'd love to see Hayden wearing that. He could just picture the boy's flaming red cheeks as he toyed with the soft fur of the tail.

His tongue ran over his dry lips again.

Without a word he plucked the tail off of the rack and hugged it to his chest as he pressed up against Dario's side, nuzzling his bright cheeks against the man.

He had made up his mind, for this one little time he could allow himself to be slightly selfish and buy something for himself that he desperately wanted.

He knew he wouldn't be able to wear it as much as he wanted, not with everyone else living in the house, but maybe he could steal little moments here and there when the two of them were being intimate or hide it under his pants if he wore a baggy top to hide the lump in the back of them.

"Do you like it."

He asked softly, his voice was quiet, timid of if the man said no.