Madison finished setting up the christmas tree while Corpse was streaming Rust with a ton of streamers.

They had decided to set up a small desk next to Madison's in her youtube room with a full setup for Corpse. It made streaming together a little more complicated but lately they hadn't had any problems with that anyway.

At least for the holidays, they had decided to stay together at Madison's apartment with all of the decorations. Corpse claimed it was more homey because it had real furniture.

When she finished everything down to the tree skirt and star, Madison felt accomplished. They had decided on black and silver for their theme; mostly Corpse decided. They had gone to multiple different stores to get everything they needed, and Madison was ecstatic.

She couldn't believe he had agreed to do this in the first place. It felt too domestic, and honestly, Madison found it really hard not to want to take their relationship further. She knew it was too soon, though, and honestly, she didn't want to have to make the next big move. Corpse would get to it when he felt like it.

They had a nearly perfect dynamic though, and not everything was good all the time. But Madison loved that about it.

She cooked dinner while watching them play Rust from Rae's stream. Corpse had promised to be done around 8 which was a later dinner than they were used to, but at least it gave Madison time to decorate. Keeping up with the christmas spirit, she made desserts too.

"Woah," she heard Corpse gasp. She turned around to see him staring at the tall christmas tree, decorated beautifully. The lights gave a different glow to the living room, one Corpse hadn't seen since he was a child.

"It's beautiful," he mumbled, pulling Madison into his arms tightly. She crashed into his chest, but hugged him back, knowing he just needed it.

They watched the tree for a few moments before Corpse realized there was food. They ate a quiet dinner, both just enjoying the presence, before watching a christmas movie in the living room.

Madison watched his facial expressions change at every scene, his face illuminated by the christmas lights she had hung around the apartment. He was stunning, and all she wanted was to take all of his pain away. She reached up, running her thumb along his bottom lip.

He looked at her, smile playing on his lips and amusement in his eyes. "What?" he asked sweetly.

He was so damn soft with her.

She smiled at him, shaking her head, staring at her lap. "Nothing," she said, blushing.

—

Corpse hadn't been acting normal, and she was terrified.

Since he had begun staying with her, things seemed okay. But it was a like a flip switched.

He was irritable, he didn't listen to her, and he hadn't touched her in nearly a week, not even when they were sleeping in the same bed.

Madison had thought maybe he just needed some space. Going from living alone to being with someone 24/7 was hard, and she was trying to be as understanding as she could about it.

But he didn't make it easy.

"Corpse!" she hollered from the kitchen. He had been in her damn room all day, staring at his computer screen. She was sure he wasn't actually working.

She had asked him to do one thing. Just take out the trash. Yet there was the bag, already tied up, just sitting next to the front door where Madison had dropped it. The trash chute was at the end of the hall, it wasn't even down a flight of stairs or across the apartment parking lot. Just down the hall.

"Corpse!" she screamed again. She huffed, trying not to get too angry. Maybe he was going through a rough patch mentally, and Madison couldn't be mad at him for that. Finding motivation when you have so many damn problems is hard.

But she could be mad at him for not listening or communicating with her about it.

Unable to control her anger, she stormed into her youtube room, Corpse still staring at his screen, headphones on his ears. Madison rolled her eyes before going up to him, trying to remain calm.

He took off his headphones and looked at her, not saying a word.

"Corpse, while I finish dinner, can you please take out the trash?" She said, her tone more condescending than she had intended it.

"I'm busy."

Madison closed her eyes, trying not to over react. In reality, she could've taken it out by now and this wouldn't have happened. But its the principle.

She would never throw it in his face, but he had chosen to live with her until after Christmas, which meant they still had two weeks together. She didn't ask him to stay with her and the least he could do was act like he enjoyed it.

"Corpse. I'm going to take out the trash, and when I come back you better be out of this fucking room and in the kitchen to spend time with me. I'm not joking." Madison said harshly.

She stormed out of the room, and took out the trash herself.

While walking back to her front door, she felt the need to cry. She thought this would really work between them, what was happening? Why was this going so wrong?

She could only blame herself. Maybe she shouldn't have pressured him into the whole holiday thing. Maybe she shouldn't expect him to clean her apartment.

She reached the door, scared that when she opened it, Corpse wouldn't be in there. She was going to have to get over it.

Opening the door, the kitchen was empty.

—

Madison could only conclude that she hadn't done enough. She tried cooking dinner and cleaning, hoping that would make him love her again. She organized all of his laundry he had in his duffle bag and washed all of his dirty clothes. She tried to be patient, letting him spend his own time on the computer, and not rushing him, but that just resulted in her being awake at 1 in the morning, watching him laugh with their friends on an Among Us stream.

She had gathered that nothing would be good enough. For some reason or another, Corpse had given up on her. She was waiting for when he came to her to break up. It was only a matter of time.

She cried, listening to him having fun during the stream, acting as if nothing was wrong. He ignored all of the super-chat questions that involved her, and didn't mention her once. What had she expected anyway?

Corpse had warned her. He deliberately told her he wasn't good in relationships; that he lost feelings for someone fast.

She tried to stay quiet as she cried, staring longingly at the door, hoping he would come out of it, tell her he was just joking and he loved her.

Madison fell asleep on the couch at 5am, Corpse still in the room.

we needed to add some spice

holy shit i'm almost to 100k reads. that's insane. i love you all so damn much.