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He wasn’t surprised to see the lights on in the living room when he made his way downstairs, his eyes meeting those of II on the sofa briefly before he looked back down to the switch in his hands. He had his legs pressed to his chest, the console resting on his knees just inches away from his scrunched up face. III slowly made his way over to him, dragging the blanket he had wrapped around his body across the floor and coming to a halt behind the sofa, draping himself over II’s shoulders to get a look at what he was playing. He made a surprised noise as he felt a quick kiss pressed to his cheek, the other man still barely acknowledging his presence outside of that small action.
“What are you doing?” III asked quietly, easily slipping back into sleepiness in the relaxed atmosphere between them. The little character on the screen hit another character with a pink net repeatedly.
“Trying to get this fucking penguin to leave my island”, II replied nonchalantly, the absurdity of his words making III giggle. He nuzzled his cheek into the shorter man’s face and wrapped his long arms around him as much as their position allowed them.
“You know what I meant sweetheart, what are you doing awake. It’s 2:30 in the morning”.
“That’s afternoon for me. You know I can’t sleep at night. Thought I might as well do something nice instead of just pacing around as per usual”
He pretended to be deeply focused on the game but he pushed into III’s touch to let him know that he was aware, present and listening.
“What about you, sunny, why aren’t you sleeping. You’re the one who’s actually supposed to be in bed right now”
III felt his cheeks turning red at the use of the nickname. Sunny. The others had come up with it as a short form of sunshine. They didn’t know just how much he loved it.
“I woke up hungry, need to eat something before I can go back to sleep. Was just gonna grab some leftovers but now that I’m thinking about it, why don’t we grab the car and get some McDonald’s?”
That got II’s attention. He put the switch down and turned his head to face him. “You know we are banned from driving”, he replied slowly, watching III’s face intently. That made him chuckle again. “I saw IV and Ves up there, they won’t be waking up anytime soon. And if they do they’ll have other things in mind, we have enough time for a little trip”.
He yelped as II jumped up off the sofa in one quick movement, almost making him lose his balance and crash face first into the cushions. He caught himself and threw a look at the other man, who in response gave him a bright smirk and reached for his hand. “Let’s get going then, what are you waiting for? Grab some clothes and let’s go, you said it yourself, we don’t have all night”. III shook his head with a smile. “Unbelievable”.
He dropped the blanket around his shoulders and let himself be pulled away from the sofa towards the hallway, quickly reaching for a pile of clothes on a chair and pulling out one of IV’s big hoodies. They made their way through the small kitchen and the dark hallway with quick steps, coming to a halt in front of the door. II threw his shoes on while III pulled the hoodie over his head. He spent a few seconds basking in the smell of it, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply. A wave of comfort spread throughout his body and he sighed quietly, nestling deeper into the fabric. When he opened his eyes again he was met with II’s unbearably soft gaze, so full of fondness that it made his heart skip a beat and his brain short circuit and he just stood there like a deer in headlights, blush creeping back up on his face.
“What-”, he asked breathlessly, any hope of sounding casual and nonchalant completely crushed in mere seconds. Instead of giving him an answer II closed the distance between them in one big step, tugging on the strings of the hoodie until III leaned down enough for him to grab his face and pull him into a deep kiss. III sighed again when he felt the softness of the lips against his own, there was no urgency in it, just overwhelming affection shared between the two of them. He instinctively reached out to wrap his arms around the shorter man as they pulled closer into each other, but they parted way too soon, II huffing out a laugh when III followed his mouth.
“What was that for”, he asked hazily, one hand making its way into his hair to scratch at his head, trying to regain at least some of his composure when he got back up.
“Oh my love”, came the answer from II as he took a step back and grabbed the door handle, “I just couldn’t help myself. Do you have any idea how much I adore you?”.
III couldn’t find a response to that, the words making him blush furiously once again. Before he could make a fool of himself by starting to stutter, II grabbed his hand and opened the door, pulling the two of them outside into the cool air of the summer night.
It was pitch black darkness he was met with, never quite getting used to just how dark the night was in the countryside. Not even the stars managed to shine enough light to illuminate the path in front of them so he relied on II’s hand to guide him towards the car, knowing the other man’s eyes were perfectly adjusted to the darkness. He followed him with clumsy steps and felt relief when the lights in the car turned on, finally letting him see where he was going.
“Who’s driving?” came the question from II. They both had their driving privilege revoked after crashing one too many cars, together and on their own. Vessel would sacrifice them to Sleep if he found out what they were doing. He weighed the options in his head and quickly came to a conclusion.
“You go ahead, you’re still the more reliable one of us… I think. Just please keep your eyes on the road and then technically nothing could go wrong”.
II chuckled at that, they both knew it was a lie. He opened the door and got into the driver’s seat, watching with amusement as III did his best to fit his long limbs into the seat next to him. “I don’t know why we have such a small fucking car, it’s not like we can’t afford a bigger one”, he cursed as II started the car, struggling to reach for the seatbelt behind him.
“Let’s hope the place isn’t that far away”
————————————————————
The place was in fact not that far away, a mere 10 minute drive from their old house. They parked their car in the small parking lot, opened the doors and scanned the restaurant before making their way inside.
Tiny, old, and mostly empty except for two young women sharing a milkshake in one of the booths and an exhausted looking older man at a table near the windows, sipping away at a sprite while the young man next to him, presumably his son, excitedly talked into his ear. The lights were low, adding to the cozy atmosphere in the room, there was radio music quietly playing in the background somewhere. The tired looking woman behind the counter absentmindedly watched her coworker clean the tables as she leaned against the cash register, seemingly not noticing the two men at the door. III nodded to himself and made his way towards a table in the middle of the room, pulling II along gently.
“Want me to get our food?”
II thought about it for a moment. Usually IV was the one ordering for them, none of them really enjoying the attention from the people behind the counter, their curious eyes boring holes into them every single time. This however was different. The people in the restaurant hadn’t even noticed them yet and the lady at the cash register looked about 3 seconds away from falling asleep.
“No it’s fine I can do it”
III looked at him with a surprised expression. “You would just intimidate the poor woman”, II added teasingly, causing the other man to stick his tongue out at him and squint. “You don’t exactly look any less confusing” he responded, motioning at II’s outfit.
Granted, the sweatpants together with the oversized “dilf hunter” shirt he’d stolen from III, paired with his old leather jacket, it painted quite the interesting picture. Both of them couldn’t help but chuckle at just how strange they must’ve looked to everyone in the restaurant.
“So what should I get for you? Same as always?”
III nodded, then paused and added: “Oh but can you get me a milkshake? Like a strawberry one? I’ve really loved them since I was young”
II’s ears perked up at that. He watched as III took a moment to process the words he just said. “Since you were young? You remember liking them? Or was that just an expression”.
“No I think… yeah no, I remember. Huh. That’s so interesting…”
“What is it love, can you tell me what you remember?”
He kept his voice calm, not trying to startle the other man and make him forget the train of thought he was obviously following. III shook his head, his eyes unfocused, mind going somewhere else entirely. “Go grab our food, I will tell you when you’re back”.
II nodded at that, knowing that memories didn’t come easily for them these days and they always needed a few moments to really latch onto them when they found one. He quickly made his way towards the counter as III sat down at their table slowly, cogs still visibly turning in his head. The lady behind the counter shot him a look as he approached, half frightened, half exhausted. She’d seen them there a handful of times in the past few years, it wasn’t rare for him or the others to take nightly trips to the conveniently close restaurant. Still they never bothered to explain themselves, and the workers never asked, simply giving them their food and hoping they would leave quickly. It was no different this time, the lady kept her eyes glued to him, none of the tension in her body easing even when II gave her a polite smile. He rattled down their order and she nodded along, letting him know it would take a few minutes, then pausing for a second, thinking, looking back up at him and saying: “You can actually sit back down for now, we will bring the food to your table as soon as it’s done”. Her smile was forced. II pitied her. She surely didn’t get paid all enough for all this trouble. He didn’t want to cause her any more of it so he thanked her and made his way back to the table, sitting down across from III who now had a small smile on his lips.
“Food will be there in a few min-“, he started, but got interrupted by an excited III.
“I remember getting milkshakes with some friends when I was young! Well, not young. A teenager maybe? I’m not completely sure about that. But I remember how we were at a party, and me and some friends for some reason decided we were craving greasy food. In all honesty, I’m pretty sure we were drunk out of our minds. So we decided to go to a little fast food place around the corner, and that’s where I also got a strawberry milkshake. Just as I did when I was a kid at that birthday party I told you about. Just as I am doing now, without even thinking much about it. So that must mean I’ve always liked them, right?”
II couldn’t help but smile at the other man whose eyes were sparkling with enthusiasm, leaning halfway across the table and watching his face intently for a reaction. “Yes darling, I can definitely imagine that, I’m so happy you remembered! Did anything else come to your mind?”
III took a deep breath to come down from his excitement at least a bit, leaning back in his seat and chuckling. “I’m surprised I remembered this at all, considering I was probably drunk enough that I passed out by the end of the night”. II couldn’t help but laugh at that, knowing exactly what the taller man acted like when he was intoxicated.
“It must’ve been so much fun though, right? It sounds like it at least”
“Oh it was a fucking blast. I’m pretty sure we did stuff like that many times before and after this one, but it’s nice that I can remember at least one of them”
Before either of them could say anything else, the nervous lady from the counter walked up to their table with the food they’d ordered, placing the trays down in front of them carefully and giving them another forced smile, never meeting their eyes with her own.
“Hope you enjoy the food” she mumbled before she quickly turned around and walked away again. They watched how her hands trembled ever so slightly.
III sighed, opening his mouth as if to say something, then closing it again and shifting his attention to the food in the middle of the table. He reached for the milkshake in one quick motion while II opened the burger he had ordered, dissecting it carefully to look for any pickles that might’ve somehow found their way into his food despite him specifically asking for no pickles. He closed the burger with a satisfied nod when he didn’t find any, wiping his fingers clean with a napkin when he heard III chuckle. He looked up to meet his gaze, tilting his head in a silent question. “Your pickle paranoia is so entertaining to watch sometimes”. II huffed at that and took a bite as the other man continued to giggle. “It’s not paranoia! It’s a valid fear!”, he said with his mouth half full. “Let me tell you about one of my memories and you will understand what I mean”. III stopped laughing then, ears perking up and focus shifting entirely onto the man in front of him.
“I must’ve been around 8 years old I think, and I remember someone, probably my parents, taking me to a McDonald’s for some special occasion. I told them many times that I wanted no pickles anywhere near my meal, they nodded along and assured me there wouldn’t be any. So I sit and wait for my food, and when they give it to me I go and take a big bite out of my burger. And what do I feel?”, he visibly shuddered at the memory and squinted his eyes, “a pickle right between my fucking teeth. In the middle of my mouth. I don’t even remember what exactly I did next but I do remember all the trouble I got into for spitting my bite halfway across the room”.
III cackled uncontrollably at the image forming in his head while II shot him a dirty look with no real venom in his eyes. “I’m sorry love but I can just imagine”, III managed to wheeze somehow, “an even smaller version of you having an exorcist moment- in the middle of a McDonald’s- because of a single pickle on his burger-“, he broke off into even more laughter. II tried hard to keep his composure but the maniacal cackling was contagious and he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself, that chuckle quickly turning into barking laughter matching that of III. They spent a good few minutes like that, just giggling uncontrollably while trying to eat, catching the attention of the people around them at last. The two women in the corner shot them puzzled looks as they caught their breaths and managed to calm down some, slowly falling into a comfortable silence while still smiling to themselves.
III’s mind started wandering while he slurped up the last bits of his milkshake. He still had more of his memories than Vessel and II but they were fading away further with each passing day. Vessel had warned him early on, right after he joined them, that he would eventually remember nothing of his life before Sleep, that it was inevitable, and told him to write down as many of his memories as he could while he still had the chance. He knew that their leader could’ve used a warning like that when he was in the early stages of his transformation. He had told them that he remembered nothing at all anymore, he couldn’t even recall his own birthday, everything they knew about him they had researched or pieced together from the words that spilled from him during nightmares. It was unfair, III thought, that he should lose all of his memories but not be relieved of the pain and the trauma attached to them. The bits they managed to learn about his earlier life were nothing short of heartbreaking, one event crueler than the other, like he was stuck in a never ending cycle of bad luck for most of his life. They avoided thinking much about these things, never bringing them up unless Vessel himself had the desire to talk about them, instead focusing on keeping as many happy memories as they could while gladly letting the bad ones slip away. III shuddered, the prospect of slowly losing all of himself kept him awake at night sometimes, though he never let the others know about this. He simply hoped it would all be worth it in the end.
He was pulled from his trance when II cleared his throat, seemingly having said something to him. III glanced at the box of chicken nuggets in his hand, then back at his face.
“I said, are you gonna eat these? Because if you don’t hurry up I will have them all”.
He took another few seconds to snap out of his thoughts, starting to smirk maliciously as an idea took shape in his head. He snatched the box from II in one quick movement and held it up in the air above his head, snorting as II jumped halfway across the table in an attempt to grab them back.
“I think I will take them, thanks for the reminder actually”.
“That’s not-“ he huffed, grabbing III’s arm and trying to pull it down, “-what I meant”, his efforts fruitless as the taller man simply moved the box into his other hand. He tried several more times before sinking back into his chair, squinting at the other man and crossing his arms in front of his chest. He could’ve easily jumped at him but he didn’t want to cause even more of a scene in the restaurant, solely for the sake of the poor staff. III spent a few moments looking down at him with a wide smile before snickering softly, leaning across the table to place a kiss on his forehead and handing him the box to then promptly hold his hand out. II contemplated not giving him anything but he couldn’t contain his grin either, putting the box down in the middle of the table so they could both reach it.
“What were you thinking about?”, he asked as they started eating.
“Huh?”
“Before. You looked like you were thinking about something quite intensely. Doesn’t happen very often for you does it?”
Now it was III’s turn to squint. He hesitated for a moment before replying. Being honest was the easiest solution but he did not want to trouble the others even more with his own problems, so instead he chose to come up with something easier to talk about.
“Was thinking how we should definitely find that cat again we saw in the garden once. Consider it, a cute little ball of fur to keep the insects away from our flowers and the rats out of our house. I know we are a cult and everything but it’s not the most charming thing to share a bedroom with these things”.
II could tell that he was lying but he decided to play along, laughing just as III had hoped and nodding his head. “Yeah, I think IV would really enjoy not having to jump up on the furniture several times a week because of the rats, you’re right about that”.
———————————————————
When they pulled back into the driveway of their old house the sun was beginning to rise at the edges of the horizon, spreading a soft purple over the dark night sky. II spent a few moments staring at it while III closed the doors of the car, reaching for the keys in his pocket and stopping right behind him. He wrapped an arm around the shorter man and pressed a kiss to the top of his head, lingering for a few seconds to inhale deeply. “Let’s get inside so we can at least sleep a little bit, wouldn’t want us being all cranky tomorrow”, he spoke with a quiet voice, not wanting to ruin the serenity of the atmosphere between them. II nodded slowly but made to move to get going, instead pressing the arm closer to his body and leaning back against him softly. III was sure his heart was going to burst right out of his chest, it was always small moments like these that got him the most. “Too tired to walk” II added as he turned around to face him, both of them knowing it wasn’t the truth. III understood however, smiling feebly and moving to pick the other man up into a tight koala hug, that smile turning into a giggle when he felt a handful of kisses pressed to as much of his face as II could reach. He often made them carry him around like that, clinging to the side of their bodies while they kept him steady with one arm around his waist, always saying it was because he liked being tall but they all knew better. When he was sure II was secure in his arms he made his way towards the door, unlocking it as silently as possible and closing it behind them.