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“Bubby.”
“Hm?”
“Are you asleep, Bubby?”
“Not sure. Need replicable results.”
“Ah, alright. I’ve just been thinking, with the anniversary coming up and all.”
A head pops up from the pillow. “Fuck! I didn’t mean to this time, do you think we could fit in a divorce tomorrow so we can reset the date?”
Coomer cackled, shaking the bed as his befuddled husband shoved his glasses back onto his face.
“No, not—that’s still in summer, dear!” He assured with a grin. He sighed, settling back down. “It’s March. The other anniversary.”
“Oh.” Bubby pushed his glasses up just a bit, rubbing an eye. He gave the words a moment to sink in. “Ohhh.”
Coomer gave his husband a quiet nod.
“Well, I mean, of course it is. The Half Life 2 stream is in just about a week, right? Darnold has assured me that there’s only a zero-point-two percent chance it will slightly rewrite our memories, so we’ll mostly have to rely on improv. And besides, even if it does, we know that the effects should be negated the minute we finish the campaign and make it back here. The revenue we get from just Act One should be able to…”
Bubby trailed off. He was not helping.
“Alright. Let’s unpack.”
He received a tired smile in return. Coomer’s thumbs fiddled with the comforter for a moment as he tried to collect his thoughts. Eventually, words came.
“Six years.”
Bubby whistled at that. “Damn. Already?”
“It feels like longer to me.”
“Oh, that too. It’s too long and too short. Feels like yesterday, but at the same time…”
“A lifetime ago.”
Coomer topped his words off with a voiceless, humorless laugh and an averted gaze.
Bubby watched him for a moment before piping up.
“…Can’t believe I married a guy who’s not even six years old.”
Ah, yep. There’s the response he was looking for. That laugh was absolutely worth the elbow in the ribs.
“Shut your whore mouth, my deeply treasured bitch!”
Bubby simply smiled to himself, leaning against his partner. “I even don’t have a good follow-up for that.”
“None at all?” Coomer snuggled in. “Not even a mention of how I can no longer taunt you with ‘I’ll tell you when you’re older’?”
“That’s never going to stop you. We’re still old. We’re just also new.” Bubby hesitated. “…you know, I’ve been thinking about that, I’ll admit.”
“Hm?”
“For a while, actually.” Now it was Bubby’s turn to clam up a bit. “It’s… I just think about it sometimes. About what we are, and…”
Pressed against his husband, Bubby could feel Coomer’s deep exhale.
“I—I know it’s not new at this point, and that you and I process it differently, and you don’t always like to talk about—”
“Bubby, if you don’t tell me what’s on your mind, I am in position to break your bones.”
“Mrmm. Fine.” Bubby rolled his eyes. “We’re ageless beings of digital consciousness in a fully modular virtual environment. We could look literally however we want. We don’t even have to be human.”
“And you’re still bald.”
A kiss was pressed to the top of Bubby’s head, and he felt his tension melt away.
“You get it.”
“I think I do.”
“You do!” Bubby affirmed. “It’s—fuck, why did I put my glasses back on? Ah, thank you—I want to be old with you. It makes our lives feel real.”
He extended an arm to brush a lock of hair out of his husband’s face. Even without his glasses, he just couldn’t get over the endearing way Coomer’s face crinkled when he gave him that look.
“We’ve grown old together.”
Nothing more needed to be said. And for a time, nothing more was.
“…However, if you did ever want to commission character models of us in, like, middle school for the express purpose of fucking with Gordon—”
“Bubby, your mind is unparalleled.”
“Damn right it is.”