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Sylvestre was in the process of becoming a healed man. He had moral support to lean onto, he was finally gone from the thing, or rather person that he feared most, and most importantly he had Fischer; debatably the best thing that had ever happened to him.
But, something just never stood quite right with him. Every so often he’d swear he saw Karp. He saw them in everyone. When he walked down the street with Fischer, he could sense the imminent danger just by the looks alone of other people. He knew looks didn’t automatically mean they were something to avoid, but he’s always worried about the aspect of Karp just living inside of them.
He could see it in Fischer too; his own partner. He’d never want to admit it, but he could always see Karp in Fischer. Deep down, he knew Fischer was no danger, but even then it’s hard enough to just tell himself that. Any name sounding familiar to Karp was an automatic no for him, he couldn’t bear to hear their name escape from his lips ever again.
It almost made him want to throw up, but it always made him nauseous. But… he knew Karp was gone. They were far away from him, in a place where they’d never reach him or even hear of. It made Sylvestre in the very slightest feel safer, even if he knew Karp wasn’t really gone for good.
It was late out. Sylvestre and Fischer walked around town trying to scavenge what they could from just about anything, the only reason why they had chosen to come out at night was to decrease suspicion. They didn’t have much luck in finding anything, however.
Everyone was less active during the night, making it harder to find much of anything good. Whatever remains of the night had been left from the day, but even then the day still hadn’t had much to spare. They eventually decided to call it off, and just go back home.
As they were walking, however, a familiar appearance struck the corner of Sylvestre’s eye. He looked over his shoulder, just to confirm he had actually seen something, but this time his eye hadn’t deceived him. Sylvestre felt an immediate drop on his stomach, and sprinted with Fischer to a nearby corner.
“Sylvestre– what the hell are you so anxious about?” Fischer looked up at Sylvestre in concern, he could see the fear in his eye.
“Tell me you saw it too, tell me I’m not going crazy, Fischer.” Fischer looked to Sylvestre in confusion.
“What? What are you talking about Sylv, saw what?” Fischer started darting his head around, trying to see anything that would’ve possibly caught Sylvestre’s attention.
“Fischer, I saw them. They were literally alongside us.” Sylvestre was quietly yelling to Fischer, he didn’t want them to hear in case they were still close by. Fischer didn’t believe Sylvestre at first, but the moment he looked around the corner he knew exactly what he was talking about. Karp had literally walked past their direction, yet didn’t seem to recognize either of them.
Fischer grabbed the sides to Sylvestre’s cheeks, “My love, they didn’t see us. We’re safe, I’m sure they don’t have a clue on us even being here.” Sylvestre was practically on the brink of hyperventilation, he couldn’t believe they were back. Why were they even here? Were they out scoping the town just to find him? Did they want something from him, were they going to hurt him? Sylvestre didn’t know the answer to any of those questions, it only made his spiral worse.
“Bubbles, I don't even think we can go home. What if they see us coming home, what if they break into our house and–” Sylvestre was cut off shortly after.
“Sylver, none of those things are going to happen. They didn’t see us. Now, I don’t know why they’re here, but I doubt it’s to look for either of us. What would they want from us, anyway?” As helpful as the reassurance was, it almost hurt in a way. By this, it made Sylvestre feel..useless. He already knew Fischer was there for him, but what if Karp just needed him back for something. He quickly shook the thought away, but even then the feeling it brought still lingered within him.
“You’re..right. I’m sorry bubbles, I really don’t know what got over me. Let’s just go home.” Just to be safe, Sylvestre peaked out of the corner he hid in with Fischer. Karp was gone from his sight. Even if they were gone though, the memory of him being in this very area haunted Sylvestre. It almost made him never want to come back here again, as he was scared it’d happen again; but he almost immediately shut that down.
“You really don’t need to apologize, love. It was reasonable of you to react that way, I understand. Hell, if I were in your shoes, I’d do the same exact thing.” Fischer opened his arms, his version of a request for a hug. He knew Sylvestre got spooked from sudden touch, or annoyed from it, so this was how Fischer would ask. Sylvestre graciously accepted the hug, almost lifting Fischer from the ground with him.
“Keke! Don’t get ahead of yourself now, you might send me into the clouds with your head if you lifted me up any higher!”
Sylvestre laughed alongside him, “Oho! Are you making fun of my height, you snarky fish?”
“You don’t know that!!” Fischer put his arms around Sylvestre’s neck, still laughing. Sylvestre went in for a small kiss, which Fischer happily accepted.
♡-------------------------------♡
After a bit of a long walk, they finally got home. It was a long day for the both of them, especially that very last part. They were both tired, and were already laying in bed together. It was a rather colder night, and they were bunched together. It didn’t help that Fischer was cold blooded, though.
“Ahh.. it’s a bit of a shame we couldn’t find much of anything today, we’re running low on our resources!” Although, they were still luckier than most even in this predicament. They still had resources, most had little to none. The fact that they could still “run low on something” was a blessing in itself.
“It’s fine, I’m sure one of these days we’ll have better luck.” Fischer played with one of the ends to Sylvestre’s hair, he was entertained by it like a cat would be with string. It was cute to Sylvestre, and honestly it was really funny because of how long he had already been playing with it. It was reasonable, though. Fischer didn’t really have hair himself, only fins.
“I’ll have to do your fins one day, they’re calling to me…” Fischer chuckled at Sylvestre’s comment.
“What’s so wrong with them right now?” Fischer guided his hands back to his fins, looking defensive over them.
“You never take proper care of them!” Sylvestre had proper experience with managing fins, especially after learning from Karp. He never told this part out loud, but he’d regularly watch Karp’s routine. He was interested in it for the reason to look as pretty as they did. He’d usually think to himself that maybe if he just learned how Karp managed his own features, he could do the same. Although unfortunately, due to them being two different species, it was impossible to match Karp. Sylvestre ended up learning more about the self-care routine of an angler fish instead, rather than for himself.
“It really isn’t that big of a deal, Sylvestre! It’ll be fine on its own.” To Sylvestre, Fischer’s fins looked like they were about to fall off of him. It was important that they were well taken care of. It was ironic how Sylvestre cared more about an angler fish’s routine over the angler fish himself.
“But it certainly is a big deal! They’re in less than perfect condition, you need to be spoiled!” Fischer rolled his eyes at Sylvestre, he was above being spoiled. He was never at rest, for the most part, constantly wasting away precious hours of his life. Yet, just somehow, Sylvestre just managed to always make a small opening into his time.
They didn’t say much after that, they only stared at each other in affection. They didn’t have to say a word to discuss the thought and emotion they had for one another, it was all evident in how they looked at each other. Even if their eyes were both droopy and weary from their exhaustion, it was similar to windows that had full access into what they thought.
That’s why they both loved the night, the time had slowed down enough to turn it into this one moment. It was something that they both would never bring up again, but they both equally knew how special it was to each other. They both enjoyed moments like this just as much as the other, it would remain embedded into the back of their memory forever.
Fischer pulled Sylvestre in closer with him, it was still freezing cold. They were nearly breathing in each other’s warmth, trying to keep as much of it to their core. They tried to cover every part of their bodies, but somehow the cold still always crept in alongside them.
They couldn’t care any less about the cold though, in fact at this rate they were completely ignoring it. Sylvestre had Fischer completely tangled into his arms, his face leaning towards his chest. They were on the brink of sleep, but they still wanted to have this moment for a longer time.
“Apologies, I had to break the silence. Ah..I love you, Fischer.” Sylvestre didn’t want to call him by just a nickname, he wanted Fischer to know he was being serious with him. His love knew no bounds when it came to him, he never knew it could reach this far into his soul. He expected his soul to be so empty that no matter how much love he was given, it’d only sink further down into the emptiness. But… that hadn’t been the case with this. It only grew, much, much further than he had ever anticipated. It filled the gaping hole that consumed his body, and it made him feel complete.
“No worries, none at all…keke. I love you too, Sylvestre.” Fischer returned the favor of Sylvestre’s, he was kidding around as much as he was. Before any of this, he could’ve never imagined what love in itself could even feel like. Like Sylvestre, he was just as empty. From the very beginning he was hollow, he hadn’t experienced a speck of affection since the very day he began to live. Even if he had been given affection, he wouldn’t have known it to be such a thing due to never knowing what it had really been. He didn’t know how to feel upon receiving it, he only knew it made him feel good, or even see someone in such a generous light like with Sylvestre. Even if he refused to say much about it, he wanted every ounce he could get his greedy hands on. This only became an unspoken rule to Sylvestre over time, however.
Eventually, they finally drifted off to sleep, painless from the world around them. Nothing could hurt them like this, they were free of any harm that had entered their lives. They had stayed in the exact position until the very morning, where they completely refused to move. But, they both knew they could come back to that same moment every single night.