AN: Yes. I know how horrible this is. Trust me, I do. Written for a friend who requested that it was put up here. PLEASE FORGIVE ME.)

It was dangerous to push people too hard.

They snapped.

Larry thought about this and laughed softly, one bloody hand reaching up to wipe a lank piece of hair out of his face.

He couldn't remember what had happened; only someone had just pushed and pushed and pushed.

And something gave. Some skin-close sac full of venom and hatred and he knew it had been there for a while.

For a long while. Since he and his Candy Wife had moved to Stormalong, trying to escape the perils of life in the country, where it was dangerous for her. A piece would come off and he would have to stick it back on by himself, trying to block her constant voice.

He stared down at himself, noticing suddenly that his hands were shaking badly. Funny, he had never felt more like laughing, just throwing back his head and screaming with laughter.

It would have to wait. Until he figured out what to do with the body, anyway.

A soft sound at the door made Larry turn around suddenly, fingers tightening on the knife. It was his Candy Wife. She was silently standing near him, gazing blankly.

"Did I wake you up, dear?" Larry asked, trailing one finger down her cheek, leaving a red smear. He felt only love for her at the moment, a tight, anxious, never-leave-me love. He would feel betrayed later, he knew. She always cheated.

"Well, that's good... I don't know what to do with this." He gestured at the body, glad he hadn't woken her up. But now he was worried, worried that what he had done would be discovered. And they would have to leave again.

He listened silently to her suggestions, head slightly cocked, blood sticky and drying against his skin. And he knew what to do.

--

"What do we say, Flappie?"

"Thank you, Peppermint Larry..." The boy looked down at the floor, swinging his feet.

"What?! No, boy!" K'nuckles turned on him, snarling. "What are ye, deaf?"

Larry tuned them out, whistling to himself as he polished a glass. It had worked out so well.

The two pirates would never guess what their candy was made of.