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Abolish watched him for longer than he’d care to admit. Any amount of staring is more than he’d like to admit to. However, there was something about the man before him. It was familiar— achingly so. Instead of saying anything, he just watched him from his seat at the coffee shop. He was so close, just a table over, yet Abolish said nothing. Eventually, though, the person noticed the warm brown eyes upon him. He glanced up from their work— once— twice— before speaking up.
“Excuse me,” he asked, “do I know you?”
“Hmm?”
Abolish’s mind snapped back to reality [WHOOP THERE GOES GRAVITY] as the man spoke.
“Oh.” he shook his head slightly, pulling himself back together, “Uhm-- sorry.”
“No, you’re okay I just-- you were staring.”
“Right. I wasn’t meaning to, I apologize.”
“It's fine,” he laughed lightly, “nothing to apologize for.”
The man smiled as Abolish still couldn’t break his eyes off them. Even his smile… even his voice… even his eyes… oh God, how could this not be him? Why couldn’t it be him? Of course, he knew why– all of Oakhurst knew why. It’d been two centuries, and the stake wound was still buried into his chest in a grave that would've been unmarked if not for Abolish. It couldn't be him.
“Well,” he started, “I’m Jack.”
Extending a hand out, they reached for Abolish. His name was Jack— of course it was. His eyes flicked from Jack’s to his hand, then back again before hesitantly accepting the gesture. Soft. Soft and coarse. Could such things coexist?
“Abolish. My name is Abolish-”
“Veylocke?”
it was no more than a whisper, but for a dhampir’s ears, it was audible.
“What..?’
“Sorry I-”
“No- It-” Abolish sighed, “It’s Veylocke.”
Jack’s expression shifted, innate curiosity and astoundment adorned him. He took his other hand and added it to their clasped handshake.
“You— you’re Abolish Veylocke.”
He nodded, unsure as to how they knew this. Jack, on the other hand, seemed to have just met his hero.
“Oh my god.” He muttered, “oh. My. God. You’re Abolish Veylocke?”
Again, he nodded, starting to fear that he should’ve denied such. He assumed this wasn’t a situation he’d have to worry about— after all, Jack had been the one to speak his surname to begin with. Although… Jack had been the one to speak his surname. This was not Pyro. There was no way to confirm his safety around this man. His only hope was his own abilities and the safety of the public eye around the two of them. Dear lord, what have I gotten myself into?
Jack let go of his hand and scrambled for something in his jacket pocket and Abolish felt a line of anxiety trail across his spine. He felt his hand set to the side of his concealed firearm— just in case. He was cautious, yes, but part of him still begged to trust the man before him. Hell, part of him did trust the man before him. All because… what? He reminded him of Pyro?
“I can’t believe I found you!” He beamed through his hushed tone, “or rather— you found me!”
“Jack..?”
“Do you not— do you not recognize me? Surely you do, you were staring so intently—” He spoke breathy words as he unfolded some old parchment, shoving it towards Abolish. “Is that not you?”
Abolish now held the paper within his hands as Jack’s long-nailed finger tapped at a part of the page. Instead of following their point, he found himself eyeing the form of the man’s finger— or rather his claw. Low level as it may be, the shape was distinct, and as he glanced upwards, he saw Jack’s fangs within his maw. Dear god. Jack was a vampire.
“Abolish!” They tapped the paper once more and still he refused to look.
His fangs were oddly shaped— not the familiar canines he was used to. Though, he’d found himself more acquainted with this shape in many ways. Slightly longer and curved inward, Jack’s fangs were like miniature scythes.
“Abolish, is this not you?”
He finally tore his eyes away from Pyro Jack and looked down at the paper. They pointed at the end signature at the bottom of the papyrus, one scrawled in familiar handwriting.
“Is this you?”
In cursive and neat penmanship the words: Yours, Abolish Veylocke.
His gaze slid from his name to the top of the page.
“Look— fifteen years ago I woke up in a coffin under six feet of dirt.”
Von Pyroscythe, it read, how roses have lost their color is not beyond me; I believe it to be due to the loss of you.
“I was lost.” He continued, “in a sense that I didn’t know where I was, how I got there, how long I had been there, even who I was.”
You didn’t deserve the life you were given. No one deserved what you went through— what you suffered.
“When I got out all I had was the clothes on my back, the name of the headstone, and what was left in the coffin with me: this note.”
And yet you did. You’ve gone through more in these past few weeks than most go through in their entire lives. Say what one will, you were brave. You were brave, and you had grit.
“I swear I read it over so many times I have it memorized by now—“
You were so many things. God, you were so many beautiful things. I found it unfitting that these words go lost to the air around your grave, so I save them upon parchment. I save my words for you, my love.
“I searched for you in any way I could. I found your parents’ grave but little else. I’d all but given up— I thought that by now, you might be dead.”
I know what I wrote upon your headstone. I know the words I've saved for the world; I hope them to be false. I hope you’ve found comfort in this world through me, as I have you.
“But you aren’t. You’re here. You're here and you're alive.”
He looked up from the words, trying to ignore the familiar heartache that they brought.
“You were staked.” Abolish muttered, blinking away a sting in his eyes, “you were staked, this isn't possible— it can’t be.”
He looked up into the piercing blue of Pyro’s Jack’s eyes. As much as he wanted to believe the man before him, the logical side of his mind would not shut up. This was physically impossible— beyond any vampire-standards of impossible. Yet given the evidence..? The note, the name, the fangs, the voice, the eyes, everything about him.
“Pyro..?”
“Is that what I went by?”
Abolish set the note on the table and found himself moving closer to the man, resting beside him. He moved a hand to the side of his face. Jack flinched slightly before leaning into the touch, closing his eyes with a content smile. Abolish’s breath hitched.
“Pyro.” He muttered the name once more, remembering what it was like.
His eyes flicked open and he took Abolish’s hand from the side of his face and held it warmly. The brown of his eyes flickered with warm amber through a thin build of tears.
“Abolish?”
He didn’t have any words.
“Will you please— will you help me remember?”
He nodded.
Pyro smiled.
“I wanna remember; I wanna remember you.”
He pulled him close and wrapped arms around Pyro, embracing him as tight as the vampire would allow. After a while they broke apart and Abolish had wound a hand through his hair. As comfortable Jack was with him, he wasn’t the man who’d been with him before. They hadn’t grown to love him, and Abolish had to remind himself of that. He frowned slightly and pulled away from Pyro, looking downwards.
“Bolish..?”
His heart panged at the nickname, something he hadn’t heard in all too long.
“I’m sorry I..” he trailed off, recomposing himself.
This was Pyro— somehow— but he didn’t remember. Abolish wasn’t about to throw him into a lake.
Abolish sighed, “I’m getting ahead of myself.”
Jack released a tense breath and smiled thinly.
“It’s alright,” he assured, "I've spent fifteen years wondering what you would be like. I've greatly underestimated you.”
He laughed lightly.
“I just don’t want to be too forward,” Abolish explained, “you only know my name-“
“But you know more about me than I do.”
“That may be, but I don’t want to force you into anything. I love you, and you should have time to decide what you feel— regardless of what you may have felt two hundred years ago.”
Pyro thought for a moment before reaching for Abolish and resting their hand on the side of his face.
“I want to do just that,” they smiled softly, “but as of now, I’ve searched fifteen years for you and you said it’s been two hundred on your part. I’m not particularly worried about being rash.”
Before he could fully process his words he felt Pyro pull him closer and and their lips pressed against his. Abolish’s eyes widened and pushed him away.
“Pyro!” He gaped, “are you sure about this? God— I mean Jack. Jack? Do you still want to be called that?”
“I’m sure.” They mumbled, pushing back closer to steal another kiss, “and I like Pyro. I wanna be Pyro for you.”
Abolish allowed him another kiss, sinking into this one as he’d wanted to before. Once they broke apart, Abolish stopped Pyro from kissing him once more.
“Pyro, " he muttered, “we are still in public.”
“Right.” They said, finally allowing the dhampire space to breathe, “well— happy Valentine’s Day, I guess.”
“I’d forgotten about that--“