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“Sooo…It’s been a while.”
Octavio paused just as he was about to grab the weapon from the supply bin he’d opened, his eyes clenching shut under his goggles at the sound of the voice behind him. His fingers fumbled for the gun as soon as he regained some of his composure and he briskly turned, finding Elliott behind him defenceless - Of course, he would be.
“You don’t have a weapon,” Octavio pointed out, half-heartedly pointing his own towards the trickster.
“Do I need one?”
Octavio sighed at his response and slowly began to lower his gun.
“Elliott…”
“Oh, so you do remember me?” Elliott replied, with a laugh full of bitterness. “Good to know.”
Octavio shuffled awkwardly on his feet. He didn’t know what to say. Part of him had hoped this conversation would never occur, despite knowing thinking so was completely foolish. His mouth opened and closed a few times under his mask, but nothing came out. However, it seemed like the trickster fully intended on doing the talking for the both of them, as he closed the distance between them with purpose, his boots falling heavily on the grass below.
“Where have you been?” he demanded, gloved hands clenching by his sides. “I’ve been worried out of my mind!”
Octavio hung his head and merely shrugged.
“At home.”
“No, you haven’t! Yo-”
“Not our home,” Octavio clarified, perhaps more harshly than he’d intended. “I’ve been on Psamathe.”
“Then why didn’t you say so?!” Elliott said, throwing his hands up in obvious frustration. “I’ve been calling and texting you for weeks!”
“You know I’m trying to figure out what Papá is up to!” Octavio told him, throwing his weapon to the ground, his own patience beginning to wear thin. “I told you that!”
“But you didn’t tell me you were planning on just leaving in the middle of the night and weren’t coming back!” the trickster retaliated, the slight waver in his voice obvious. “I thought something happened to you!”
Octavio shook his head angrily. Elliott just didn’t understand. None of this had been easy for him either. He didn’t like finding out that his father was responsible for almost everything that had gone wrong lately. He didn’t like having to leave. He didn’t like being stuck on Psamathe but the worst part of it all had been being separated from the man he loved. At least, he had believed that was the worst part until the trickster uttered his next set of words that completely shattered his heart.
"Why did you leave me?" Elliott whispered, head bowed and with a tremble to his words. "I could have helped you. Or...are we...br-broken up now? I don’t know what’s going, Tav. I didn't...you never said-"
"No! No, we're not!" Octavio replied, taking a step towards him. "Unless...you're trying to tell me something."
"I'm trying to tell you that I miss you! And I don't know what's going on!"
"I'm trying to protect you!" Octavio exclaimed, looking over his shoulder before continuing. "Papá...he can't know we're together. I don't want him to come after you. Or your mom. I'm just trying to do the right thing...for once."
Elliott shook his head and sighed, his shoulders slouching in defeat.
"I get it...but it doesn't mean I have to like it."
"I don't like it either, mi amor. We shouldn't even be talking like this. There's cameras everywhere."
"Then we'll just have to go somewhere they can't see us."
"I feel I'm being watched everywhere I go."
"Trust me," Elliott said, extending a hand to him. "Just...hold my hand."
Octavio took one more quick look around himself, before doing what he was asked. The feeling of Elliott's hand in his almost felt foreign now, but was tinged with a painful familiarity that he knew would make it extremely hard to let go again. Elliott's holo-gear began to glow and they were promptly encased inside the shimmering light of his cloaking technology. He tugged lightly on Octavio's hand, leading him behind the opened supply bin, where they settled themselves on the grass, hand-in-hand.
"Now no one will ever find us," Elliott chuckled, somewhat awkwardly. "Unless, uh, someone runs past and trips over us."
“I’ve missed you,” Octavio said, burying his face in his partner’s chest like he was sharing some forbidden secret. “I’m sorry for leaving, I…Sometimes I think I’m doing the right things and it just makes everything worse.”
His fingers curled into the quilted fabric of Elliott’s jumpsuit, afraid that he wouldn’t be able to let go again. Elliott’s free hand came to rest over Octavio’s, giving it a firm squeeze.
“I miss you too,” he said, and Octavio felt his chest deflate with a sigh. “You know I don’t sleep well when you’re not there.”
“Me neither.”
“Why couldn’t you have just told me where you were going? I’ve been so worried.”
“Would you have let me go if you knew?”
The trickster paused, shaking his head.
“That’s-”
“Would you?”
Elliott sighed again, defeated.
“I…I guess not.”
“I gotta do this, Ell,” Octavio said quietly, his gaze drifting away like he didn’t fully believe it himself. “I gotta find a way to stop him. I gotta prove to everyone that I can. And I’m not just ‘Octavio the screw-up’.”
“You’re not a screw-up,” Elliott insisted, their cocoon dissipating momentarily as Elliott’s hands removed themselves from Octavio’s and rushed to cup his face. “You’re the love of my life. You don’t need to be a hero for me.”
“I do.”
Octavio grabbed his mask at the chin and tugged it down, leaning forward to find his partner’s lips. He kissed him with everything he had; all the passion, the feeling, the lonely nights he’d spent without him, all the words that had to remain unsaid for now. Elliott’s thumbs brushed across his cheeks when they parted, resting their foreheads against each other’s.
“Tav…”
“Elliott…”
“Silva! Mate, did you go to bloody Tartarus for that gun? Where the hell are ya?”
Octavio shut his eyes tightly, as he silenced his communicator, mentally cursing Walter for reminding him of his surroundings. He felt Elliott’s hold on him tighten, which only made his next few words so much more difficult to say.
“I should…I should get going.”
“When are you gonna come home, Tav?”
“I don’t know,” Octavio told him, truthfully. “Soon…I hope.”
Elliott nodded solemnly, averting his gaze.
“Okay. I guess…bye then.”
Octavio crawled out from their secret bubble and back out into the world where everything felt so unsure. He took once last, longing look behind him to the spot they’d just been sat. He couldn’t see Elliott, but he knew he was still there and all he wanted to do was crawl back into his arms and stay there forever, hidden from the rest of the Outlands and it’s problems. But he couldn’t. He had to go. It was time to be the hero, for real this time. He had no other option.
“Bye,” he whispered, his feet dragging through the grass as he began to run in the direction of his team, and away from the one person he truly wanted to be with. “Mi amor.”