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Riz honestly doesn’t expect anything different than a normal day when he pulls up to the Elmville Police Department on the ten year anniversary of the shitshow that was his high school graduation.
He pulls the ever-silent Hangman III into his reserved spot, swaps his helmet for his briefcase from the seat compartment, and walks in the door, waving half-attentively to Ellie at reception before heading into the break room slash kitchen to brew himself his second coffee of the day, fated to grow cold on his desk until he needed the burst of energy, then chugged in one quick gulp.
If he had been more attentive, had been expecting anything other than a normal day in early June at the office, hadn’t been a little too preoccupied in the awful memories of what had happened a decade prior, Riz might have noticed Ellie’s subtle, almost frantic way of trying to get his attention as he passed her. Or the way everyone stared and whispered as he passed them in the halls.
He might have been more wary about approaching his office door, might have expected something waiting for him as he swung it open, balancing both coffee and briefcase in one hand.
But as it was, nothing prepared him for the shock of seeing one Fabian Aramais Seacaster, ten years post-death, sitting on his desk almost casually, playing with the fidget cube Kristen had gotten him a couple years ago.
Riz drops his coffee and his briefcase, not even noticing as the warm liquid splashes onto his pants and socks, just staring.
Fabian looks up at the noise, and Riz watches as the fidget cube tumbles from his long, calloused but dexterous fingers, silvery eye widening as he seems to fall back completely onto the desk, inhaling sharply as if he wasn’t expecting to see Riz there.
In his own office. Where he was every day.
It's so bizarre, so fantastical and odd, that Riz doesn't believe it's real for a second.
But hells, he wants to live in whatever dream this is for a moment more, so he keeps watching, noting every detail that this fake or Phantasm had made to make Fabian truly seem a decade older with fascination.
His white hair had been grown out, still shorn on the sides, but long enough on the top now that it was tied back in a neat knot, a couple strands loose to frame his face, where glittering hairs formed an attractive stubble along his jaw.
Bill Seacaster's eyepatch was long gone, had been before graduation, but Fabian had been wearing it for the occasion as to not upset the parents, and Riz is almost pleased to see that this unreal figure before him had decided to forgo it as well, the pale scar standing out against his tanned skin.
There's a few more marks, quick little gashes and wrinkles, marking adventures had, a life lived, and Riz is transfixed by it all, startled out of his trance when the apparition lets out a shaky breath.
"Hi, Riz." It breathes out, and Riz is suddenly reminded that it can't be real, reminded of an eighteen year old boy turning to him with a smirk before turning into ash, and Riz pulls his Arcubus from an enchanted holster he'd had made years ago.
"Get out." He grits out, hating how his voice wavers.
Not-Fabian starts, eye growing wide as it raises its hands, letting out a nervous chuckle. "Look, I know I haven't been around for a long time, but it wasn't my fault-"
"I said, get. Out. " Riz orders again, trying (unsuccessfully) to make his tone harder, harsher, instead seeming hysterical, even to his own ears. "How dare you wear that face. In front of me , on today of all days. Get the fuck out of my office."
The duplicate doesn't move, instead something like understanding appearing on it's borrowed features as it takes a slow, measured breath.
"I should have known."
Riz can't help but rise to what is clearly bait, a mystery that he knows will drive him crazy if he let it lie. "Known what?"
"Known you wouldn't believe it was me just on sight. Especially after sophomore year and...I really have no idea how long it's been. I forgot how paranoid you wer- are. "
"Don't talk like you know me!" Riz hisses, fury beating out his curiosity, the bittersweet ache that seeing this vision of what Fabian could have looked like if he'd lived turning into anger enough to flick off the safety, the copy flinching at the sound but seeming to remain calm.
"Can I show you something?" It asks, waiting just a moment before reaching down, slowly as if to not alarm Riz, to pull out something from under its shirt.
A thin, silvery chain glinted in the fluorescent light, a mangled charm hanging off of it, and it takes a long moment for Riz's brain to load, to recognize the warped lettering.
He lowers his Arcubus slightly, still keeping it pointed at the intruder as he walks forwards on shaky, stiff legs to get a better look.
The pendant has certainly seen better days, no longer looking like it'll match the one hidden under Riz's own shirt, dented in places and the cheap metal stained and stretched in others, the letters "ST ENDS" barely legible through the damage.
"Where...where'd you get this?" Riz asks, unable to tear his eyes away, rage tempered by a wondrous possibility, one he didn't think was possible, but-
"It was an...early Christmas present. Very early." was the reply, tinged with laughter, and Riz looks up to see a very, very familiar smirk. "Say, seven months early, right, the Ball?"
Riz hears himself make a downright mortifying noise at the old nickname, belief rising in his chest, even though there was no way -
"What happened to you’ll always trust me, more than anyone else?” Fabian murmurs, echoing a confession Riz had made to a dark and lonely van, to a pile of blankets that had only just barely resembled a grieving boy-
Riz drops his gun, involuntarily, shock coursing through him-
And then Fabian cups his cheek, so gently, just like he had before the ceremony had started a full ten years ago, like Riz was something precious, something to be taken care of, and kisses him.
And Riz is frozen, stitched together and healed pieces coming undone once more, emotion welling up in his chest because this is real , isn’t it?
Fabian lets him go, a deep maroon dusting his cheeks and ears, and bites his lip, clearly unnerved by Riz’s stillness, his lack of reaction to the kiss.
“If you’ve...um. I should have asked, you’ve probably moved on, it’s been a long time-” he stammers, and Riz pulls himself together enough to sock him square in the jaw.
And if he hadn’t already been convinced that it was the real thing, that it wasn’t a wonderful dream, the pain in his knuckles sure convinces him.
Fabian clearly wasn’t expecting the blow, the force of it and the surprise making him stagger, fall to the floor, and Riz is shaking , feeling tears tumble down his cheeks.
“Ten fucking years, Fabian. A full goddamn decade. We looked for you. We mourned . I thought I’d-” he cuts himself off, he’s talked about this with his counselor, it hadn’t been his fault it hadn’t - “Where the fuck have you been?”
Fabian winces, sits up and holds out a hand to Riz, and of course he takes it, lets himself be pulled into warm, solid arms, lets himself be held, because if he's learned anything from the past ten years, it's that he's done denying himself of things he wants.
“I’m sorry.” Fabian says, sorrow in his voice. “I’ve been trying , I promise. But there isn’t much you can do when you’ve been planewalking and then stranded on another continent.”
Riz buries his face in Fabian's coat, breathes in saltwater and sweat and sun, hiccuping out a laugh and unable to stop himself from teasing, "Sounds like a bunch of excuses."
Fabian makes a disgruntled sort of noise into Riz’s hair, where he’s buried his face in as well. “Well. What do I have to do to prove this one?”
Riz smiles, sitting back and giving Fabian a smile before getting up and sitting at his desk, pulling one of his less-full notebooks out from under a pile of paperwork and mugs.
“Tell me everything .”