Chapter Text
It was almost midnight when it happened.
Eugene had been the whole week a little off, so Vincent should’ve known better than to push his luck, really. He could say that he got a tad too comfortable with Eugene, compared to their rocky beginning Eugene and him had developed a closer relationship for what it was worth.
In Vincent’s defense, it had been a good while since Eugene’s more aggressive and bitter side last showed up. Although Vincent was very happy about that, it also made the whole argument worse. It caught him off guard when the deep frown in Eugene’s face returned,—those eyes that reflected the pristine waters of a thoroughly taken care of swimming pool that they'd seen numerous times—were now turned into icy, glacial daggers.
Everything was accompanied by the roaring sound of Eugene’s voice, yelling, shouting. Trying desperately to make himself be heard, be seen. Vincent would have told him that he could hear him without the screaming, would have reassured the distressed man that he didn’t need to put up an armour again in order to be perceived by Vincent, but he found himself cornered.
As much as he now wore the shoes of a strong, respectable valid, he was still weak. He was still fragile. Eugene knew that, but the rational side of him had already ran away by the time the whole argument started.
“Eugene! Look, just- listen to me damnit!” Vincent attempted to stop him. To save his own bleeding ears and soothe his straining vocal cords.
On the other hand, Eugene thrashed his arms in the air while his chest heaved for air. He had the lung capacity of an oxygen tank, yet he felt himself lose it so rapidly. “Shut up, Vincent! I don’t need your damn pity you little bitch. It makes you feel better, doesn’t it?!”
The room slowly turned into a furnace, and each yelled word just fed the fire further. “You already got my face, my identity, my life! Now all you have left to steal from me is my humanity and-” Eugene’s arms finally lowered. His head turned as his eyes looked somewhere to the side, on the floor.
One, two, three. Each breath getting more ragged, quicker, more desperate for control. Vincent crouched down, now on eye level with Eugene. Eugene’s breath stuttered for a moment when two steady hands grasped his shoulders. “Gene, breathe.” A set of eyes reached somewhere deep inside Eugene’s own, somewhere he wasn’t familiar with yet it made the glacials in his eyes warm up, melt until it eventually turned into clear water again.
Both men stared into each other’s gaze for an indefinite amount of time. The previously chaotic room now fell into a deep yet intimate silence. Each looked at blue eyes, at similar faces, yet they all felt foreign and out of place. Eventually, they both calmed down and so they did their expressions, now having a more familiar tone.
Unfiltered and tired.
Real.
On one hand, Vincent’s overly tense and serious demeanour—the one he always used as Jerome at Gattaca—calmed down, softened. It was a little crooked, he looked less like Eugene when he relaxed. It was nice, because it was Vincent.
On the other hand, Gene’s stiff upper body muscles relaxed and loosened up. Exhaustion quickly etched into his face and he let it sit there, he wasn’t Jerome either—not anymore.
Although the initial argument hadn’t been discussed properly yet, they both silently agreed on just going to bed for the night. Vincent felt heavy himself at the moment to actually make the effort to haul Eugene up, so he was glad they were downstairs and Eugene’s bedroom was easy to access.
By the time Vincent had set Eugene on the bed and tucked him in as neatly as his drowsy mind allowed him to control his hands, he unawarely passed out on top of Eugene for the rest of the night.
Eugene let out a soft ‘oof’ before his arms enveloped Vincent just like the other man did when he helped Eugene upstairs at times when he was very drunk. After slowly moving Vincent across to make sure he wouldn’t wake up with a twisted spine next morning, Eugene exhaled softly and squeezed the man in-between his arms gently. The day had left them both utterly spent, nevertheless he slept contently through the night for once after years.
It felt nice, even if it was just an accidental and unplanned cuddling night.