Mechanic Hearts And Postage Stamps

by Ebony Runwick

Chapter 9, Disagreements

A few weeks after the two coltfriends had moved in together, things had been going well. Adhesive had livened up the place and make it look homier, and Circuit was now eating on a regular basis. But there was one problem, living together twenty-four seven can lead to some issues. Nothing major of course, but, well…. arguments do happen.

“What do you mean you don’t want me to meet your family? We’ve been together for a month and a half, and were going out on dates for another month before all that!” The blue eyed stallion cried exasperatedly.

“What do you care so much?” Circuit let out a soft huff, rolling his eyes as though the other stallion was the one who was being ridiculous. “It’s not like it’s the end of the world. So I don’t want you to meet my family, so what?” Said green maned stallion let out a cry of frustration.

“So what, are you embarrassed of me or do you just not care when it comes to family?!” Tears were in his eyes now, but with his angry look, Adhesive was holding them back. “I showed you my family two weeks ago! Because I was so happy to have you in my life, and they loved you! Now you don’t even want me to talk to them? What the hell Circuit!”

“A-ashamed of you? Where the hell did you even get that idea?” The gray stallion sputtered slightly, his face reddening out of both mortification and embarrassment. “Why would you even think that? And yeah, okay, I got to meet your family. But that was your choice to let me meet them. It’s my decision on whether you get to meet my family, and I say no, you don’t get to meet them! Ever!” Stamp’s eyes couldn’t hold the tears anymore as they began to fall and stain his white coat.

“Why not? If all this does work out which I hope to Luna it does, I want to meet my in laws before the Celestia damn wedding! Do you care so little about the people who gave birth to you huh?!” Circuit was about to reply when a slap was heard down the hall. It was Ebony’s Lair door, and emerging, was a very pissed of changeling hybrid. She had bags under her eyes and her crimson mane and tail were stuck out in every direction. The mare glared at the two and stalked over to them.

“What, in the name of bucking holy Luna’s left legs are you two yelling about at three in the morning?!?!” Circuit flinched slightly, his ears pressing flat against his skull as he cowered a bit. Sure, Ebony was pretty much his best friend in the world, but that mare got scary when she was upset, and he preferred not to be at the end of her fury when he could avoid it.

“Er...Sorry for the noise, Adhesive and I were just..Discussing things…No need to worry about it, you can go back to bed now.” He quickly tried to usher the pegasus back to her lair before things could escalate any further.

But Ebony was not fooled, a thousand years on this earth gave her a lot of experience. And it took a lot to pull the wool over her eyes. Green eyes which landed on a certain white stallion with tears in his eyes and staining his cheeks.

“Circuit.... What. Have. You. Done?!” The mare seethed, walking over to Adhesive and wrapping a hoof around his shoulders.

“Shh, it’s okay sweetie, Ebs isn’t gonna let this grump hurt you anymore tonight. It’s okay…” Adhesive sobbed and leaned into the comforting touch as Ebony began to lead him into her lair.

“And you Circuit, I hope you think about what you’ve done tonight.” The ‘pegasus’ let out a weary, and slightly terrified, sigh, his ears pressing further against his head as he guilt welled up in his chest. He didn’t say anything else, simply watched as Ebony led away his, hopefully, still coltfriend before slinking off to his own room to sulk.
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Ebony had used the rest of the night to console the mail stallion before he literally cried himself to sleep. ‘Poor guy…’ She thought, stroking the sleeping stallion’s green mane. A more friendly gesture than anything. The pegasus knew that Circuit could be harsh at times from personal experience, but it was never easy. Still, she loved that old grump like a brother, which is why she had intervened. The hybrid didn’t want them saying anything else they’d regret later.

Circuit was still quickly sulking in his and Adhesive’s shared room, buried under several pillows and blankets as he moped. He’d tried sleeping for a bit, figuring that’d make him feel a bit better, but every time he closed his eyes all he could see was Adhesive’s tear soaked face. He hadn’t meant to make the stallion cry. He never wanted to hurt him like that. The other just didn’t understand that on no circumstances could he ever meet his family. Ever.

Morning came eventually, painfully slow for the hybrid and ‘pegasus’ alike, the mail stallion had slept, if only for a few fitful hours. Adhesive continued to sleep as Ebony snuck out of the lair and into the kitchen to make him some food. Her mane and tail had been brushed but not styled, just to keep it out of her eyes. Circuit stirred from his fitful doze at the soft noises from the kitchen, rubbing at his bloodshot eyes as he pulled himself from his nest of blankets. He slowly made his way to the source of the noises, his gray ears pressing back against his tangled mess of mane as he spotted the mare. He attempted to smile sheepishly at her despite the wave of fresh guilt that washed over him.

“Morning…” The mare sent him a glare.

“Judging by the bags under your eyes I’m guessing you thought about what you did?” She began to crack some eggs and beat them into a mixture for pancakes.

“Yeah...You...You could say that…” He yawned as he rubbed at his eyes, blinking blearily at the mare as he watched her prepare breakfast. “How is he…?”

“Asleep, cried himself into unconsciousness.” She put the frying pan on the stove and cranked the dial with a small sigh. “He really thinks you’re embarrassed by him, he just wants to meet them. Isn’t there someone in your family that you’re willing to introduce him to? Even if you don’t, why don’t you tell him why. Adhesive loves you, and wants to be a part of your life, just, think about it okay?”

“That bad huh…” Circuit let out a weary sigh, dragging one of his hooves over his face. “I’m not embarrassed by him at all, you know exactly why I don’t want him to meet my family. And I have thought about it. A lot. I just don’t know if he’d be okay only meeting one of my family members.” Ebony gave him a look, her signature, ‘Are you bucking kidding me?’ look.

“I’m sure if you explained it to him he would understand, try taking a little leap of faith here. It’s better than not trying at all.” She turned to continue the pancakes when the sound of a door creaking sounded through the house. Adhesive had woken up and groggily began coming into the kitchen but stopped dead in his tracks at seeing his coltfriend. Circuit tensed up as he stared at him, their eyes meeting for a second before he looked away. He cleared his throat, coughing slightly as he tried to alleviate some of the tension.

“Good morning….” The mail stallion didn’t reply, only grabbed a glass of water before heading towards the bathroom. The dark coated stallion quickly darted out, gently grasping the other stallion’s free hoof. “Adhesive wait...Can...Can we talk…? Please….?” The stallion turned back to his coltfriend and swallowed before nodding.

“Yeah… we can talk Circuit…” His blue eyes were cast downwards onto the ground and his green mane was flatter and less lively than usual. Circuit attempted to smile at him, though it was strained at best. He gently tugged on his hoof, starting to pull him out of the kitchen.

“C’mon...Let’s go talk somewhere more private…” He spoke as he gently led him down to the basement where they could have peace and quiet while they spoke. Adhesive followed Circuit, his breathing shaky and his face raw from the night before.

“Circuit...I-I…”

“Wait, before you say anything I just need to tell you, I’m sorry. I just…” He let out a frustrated sigh, running one of his hooves down his face. “I didn’t know this family thing was so important to you, okay? I didn’t think it would upset you so much and I’m really sorry and I really don’twanttoloseyouandpleaseforgivemeandI’msorryand-” The stallion continued to babble on, his words starting to all just slur together as he started running out of air. Adhesive effectively interrupted him by pressing his lips to the other stallion in a feverative kiss.

“I-I’m sorry too… I shouldn’t have gotten into it with you. I shouldn’t have pressed the matter after you voiced your discomfort AndI’mSorryToo,INeverShould’veGottenMadAnd-” Circuit did the same thing the other stallion had done, muffling his words with a passionate kiss. He pulled back after a few moments, a nervous smile twitching across his mouth as his face heated up.

“Let’s just agree that we’re both idiots and pushed things too far, okay?” The green maned stallion nodded, a smile on his features. He brought a hoof up to gently stroke his coltfriend’s face and a small tear ran down his face as Adhesive let out a small happy laugh.

“Celestia damn I love you, so so much…” The ‘pegasus’ laughed as he nuzzled his face, gently kissing the tear away.

“I love you too, I don’t know what I’d do without you…” He smiled at him as he pulled back, giving him another quick kiss before fully pulling away. “Look I...I still don’t want you to my parents, and it’s nothing against you just trust me, you wouldn’t want to meet them, but ah...Maybe you’d like to meet my grandmother?” His face brightened even brighter, a smile nearly splitting his face from ear to ear.

“That would be absolutely amazing!” He launched himself at Circuit, wrapping his hooves around the ‘pegasus's’ neck. Circuit laughed as he hugged him back, squeezing him tightly as he held him against his chest.

“I can’t wait, trust me, my grandma will love you.”