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Sig had lost count of how many years it had been. To be honest, it only felt like it had been a few month since he left primp, but it had been years.
As soon as he graduated from Primp, Sig sort of just, disappeared without a trace. In all seriousness, he was just travelling around the world. He just had to get away from Primp. He couldn’t stay. He cut ties with everyone, including his own adoptive family. Not even Amitie knew where he had gone, and she was his sister!
When everyone heard the news that Sig was gone, Lidelle was thrown into a panic, Raffina was angry and Klug just felt… empty.
It wasn’t a secret to the girls, or Raffina, at least, that Klug was in love with Sig.
For the first month Sig was gone, Klug hid himself from the public eye. He never left his house, and focused all of his time on his further studies of magic. The only people who ever saw him in that time were Raffina, Lemres, Feli, and his own mother. Klug was a mess, a wreck. Studying was fun once. Now it was just his distraction. He didn’t want to think about Sig. Never again.
But that plan didn’t work. Every sleepless night, when his mind would drift, he’d think about how betrayed he felt. Sig didn’t even tell him, his best friend? But then again, there was a little part of Klug’s mind that told him that they weren’t actually as close as he thought they were.
But in the end, Klug tried his best to forget about Sig. But every day it got harder and harder to ignore the memories.
-
Klug was sitting at his desk.
He was a mess, his hair disheveled, glasses crooked, outfit wrinkled and expression tired. He was so close yet so far from figuring out how to create a vessel for the crimson demon trapped in the Record of Sealing.
He took a long sip from his coffee, long since gone cold, and looked to the other side of the desk. Ayashii, still trapped in it’s book prison, had fallen asleep a few hours ago, leaving Klug completely alone with his thoughts. He read back through his notes, over and over and over again, re-reading, re-reading… re-reading… the process was so tiring.
In all honesty, Klug hadn’t slept in days and it was getting harder to stay awake. His eyes drooped. He rested his cheek against his hand, sighing softly, blowing a lock of messy, brown hair out of his face. He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.
‘What good am I getting out of all of this?’ He thought to himself.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the front door of his apartment.
Klug fixed himself up, forcing his disheveled hair back into place. Chances were, it was Raffina coming over with food to pull him away from his studies, as per usual. She had a habit of doing that. Or maybe Feli coming to return the books she borrowed from him. Whoever it was, he was glad that they pulled him from his notes. It was getting painful to keep going over them.
Nothing could have prepared Klug for who was paying him a visit.
“H-hey Klug…”
Klug couldn’t contain his shock.
“S-Sig…? Is it… really you…?”
“In the flesh” Sig chuckled as he spoke, a nervous smile on his face. Klug just stared back in response, eyes wide and mouth agape.
As far as everyone knew, Sig had probably long since passed and yet… there he was. Alive and well. After all this time… Klug didn’t know what to say.
“Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost…” Sig said softly, placing a hand on Klug’s shoulder.
How the hell would he respond to that?! How could he respond to that?! Sig had just up and left for 3 whole years and didn’t bother to tell anyone where he was or if he was even alive!
“Sig…” That was all Klug could say in the moment. He had no words. All he did was wrap his arms around Sig’s waist, hugging him as tightly as he possibly could, as if he was afraid Sig would leave again if he let go. Sig hugged back just as tightly, running his clawed hand through Klug’s hair, gently brushing the knots out.
Klug loosened his grip, looking up at Sig. Sig looked down at Klug with a guilty expression, although patiently awaiting a response.
Only to get a firm punch to the stomach.
Sig dropped to his knees, clutching his midsection with a small grin on his face.
“Y’know what I deserved that” he said with a small chuckle.
“What the fuck, Sig?! What the hell were you thinking?! You just left without telling anyone!” The pain was evident in Klug’s voice as he yelled. Sig stood up, trying to keep up a smile.
“I swear, I can explain to you. But… can I come in? It would be awkward if one of your neighbours walked out while you’re busy tearing into me for being a shit friend”
Klug let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding.
“Fine. But you better be able to explain.” Klug stepped aside so Sig could enter.
Klug sat down at the kitchen table and Sig sat across from him.
“Now. Explain.” Klug said firmly. Sig looked very nervous.
“Well… I left Primp.”
“It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.”
“I left the country entirely, actually. I needed to get away from everything. It was all just becoming too much. Meddling with gods, all of the…” He paused and shuddered. “Ayashii stuff… I just needed to leave.” Sig’s voice trailed off, getting quieter near the end. Klug looked… betrayed, angry, shocked. He didn’t know how Sig thought that would be a good idea.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell anyone where you were going? We were all worried sick! As far as we knew you could have been dead!” Klug slammed his fist down on the table. Sig looked terrified of him in that moment.
“I didn’t want any of you to try and talk me out of it. If you knew I was leaving, you would all try to get me to stay!”
“You could have asked someone to go with you! Or not cut off all communication with all of us?! Just a simple call saying ‘Hey don’t worry, I’m alive and well’ would have been enough! You were gone for three years, Sig! Three fucking years! We all thought you died…”
No one said a word after that. It was dead silent. Klug could feel tears welling up in his eyes. It stung. Sig cutting off communication stung. Sig not even saying goodbye stung. If he had just said something, maybe… Klug could have been gone with him.
“Actually um… I wanted to give this to you before I left but… I never found the time…” Sig pushed a small box towards Klug. Inside was a locket.
With shaky hands, Klug opens the locket. Inside, there’s photos of himself and Sig together. He felt his face heat up.
“I didn’t want you to forget about me… but I guess you didn’t forget me after all…”
“How could I forget about you? You’re my best friend, Sig…”
Silence fell over them again. Sig could feel his heart beat faster and his face immediately flushed, going almost as crimson as his left arm.
“Well great. Now I feel even worse about leaving.” Sig sighed audibly. Klug looked down, holding the locket in his hands.
It was quiet again. The both of them refused to look at each other, until Klug looked up at Sig, a defeated look on his face. Sig looked back, he couldn’t ignore the pang of guilt in his heart. He reached over to grab Klug’s hand, gently running his thumb across his knuckles.
“Why did you come back…?” Klug whispered, trying not to let his voice break.
“I came back for you… the whole time I was gone I couldn’t stop thinking about how I hurt you guys… you were there when I needed you and… I just left you behind.”
“You didn’t need to come back for me… if you were doing what you wanted to do, why would you come back for someone like me?”
“Because I lo-“ Sig stopped himself. He couldn’t let that slip. Anything but that. Klug looked inquisitively at Sig. He released Klug’s hand ran his hand through his own hair, dislodging his fringe.
“W-what was that…?!” Klug stuttered, face red again. Did Sig almost just say that he… LOVED HIM?! Sig started blushing too. He stood up.
“I-I’m sorry, I really should be going-!”
“H-hey wait!” Sig stopped in his tracks, turning around to face Klug. They both made eye contact. Sig walked back towards Klug, his form almost towering over the smaller mage.
“Y-yeah?”
“If… you need to tell me something, I’m listening…” Klug looked away, a strand of hair falling in front of his face. Sig reached up, pushing it out of the way, then bringing his hand to Klug’s cheek, guiding him to look up at him. Sig averted his gaze.
“Well… I…” His words fell flat. How the hell could he simply blurt out that he was crushing hard? He was down BAD! That’s not just something you can just spring on someone… right? Well, he supposed it was now or never.
Before even Sig himself could process what he was doing, he grabbed Klug by the cheeks and leaned down slightly to kiss him. Klug’s eyes went wide and his cheeks suddenly heated up.
Sig was KISSING HIM. THIS WAS REALITY. KLUG WASN’T DREAMING. This was actually real… unlike of those nights where Klug found himself wishing Sig was there by his side, claw slowly trailing down his body, touching him in all of the right places, bodies pressed together, moving in sync, Sig holding him close as his body shudders, the pressure building up in his abdomen, like a coil threatening to snap at any moment and-
“Klug…?”
“E-eh?!” Klug had zoned out. His face was red and his lips were parted slightly, lithe hands gripping Sig’s shoulders as if his life depended on it. Sig looked worried, as if he had done something wrong.
“Are you… okay?”
“I-I… did… did you just-“
“S-sorry, that was uncalled for and- !!!”
This time, Klug took the initiative, pulling Sig by the collar of his shirt down to his level, kissing just shy of the other boy’s lips. Sig tried to process what just happened, the confused look on his face looking somewhat akin to a puppy while getting scolded. The mental image caused Klug to chuckle, making the little hairs on the back of Sig’s neck stand on end.
“Sig… I missed you so damn much… please… never leave again…” Klug said quietly as he pulled Sig into an embrace, resting his forehead into the crook of Sig’s neck before kissing the underside of Sig’s chin.
“I wouldn’t dream of it, Klug…”