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The familiar sound of the elevator landing in Rokea is heard from a distance, Lampert sparing only a glance in its direction before he looks away again. Today, he doesn't really feel like boarding it. He doesn't feel like being surrounded by germs or by those he dislikes while the tourists irritate him in any way they can. It had somehow been a long day... He'd rather not.
With a small sigh, Lampert pulls his legs in, shuffling away from the edge of his base before being able to stand and move further inwards. He hopes none of them have that special game CD that was seemingly used to make finding him easier, he hopes anything that would aid the tourists wasn't present.
The seconds tick by, Lampert's tail subconsciously swaying with whatever his body's clock decided was appropriate. He hadn't seen anyone nearby and it seemed like none of them had come close to finding him. Good, he could relax soon, away from their irritable ways.
Time continues on before finally, he hears some faint groans in the distance followed by the elevator leaving Rokea, on its way to whatever floor would come next. Lampert lets out a small sigh of relief, glad that he hadn't been found. He could relax, maybe sleep, spend some time with himself. Being around so many people so much really was exhausting...
Standing again, the lamp shuffles over to his bed, picking up the shark plush he loves so dearly. Truly a beacon of comfort, one he could always rely on — he didn't need anything else, after all. The shark is given a few pets before Lampert allows himself to lie down, holding the plush close. Some time to himself, all on his own, just like it's always been. It's... nice. It's...
A sound cuts into the peace Lampert was finally establishing for himself. Something familiar, one that so obviously came from someone he told himself he hated (though deep down, he knows this isn't the case). It was such a simple sound, yet one that carried so much weight, echoing across the empty expanse of Rokea.
A sneeze.
Lampert doesn't respond to the noise immediately, instead squeezing his eyes shut as he curls up slightly, wrapping his tail around himself and the shark. He could ignore it, let the other boy wander around until the elevator came back to pick him up. He didn't need to acknowledge it, didn't want to acknowledge it.
Another sneeze is heard from below, followed by a, "Cool ass TVs dude, I wish I had more epic TVs!" The lamp, again, tries to ignore it, shifting his head to instead stare at his shark, giving it a few little pets. He wants the man to go away, he wants to rest without having to spend more of his time wasting away thinking about him. Unfortunately, it seems Rokea had other plans.
As if punishing Lampert for his ignorance, the store suddenly plunges into darkness, causing Lampert to jolt in place. He sits up almost immediately, a fear he didn't think he possessed suddenly shooting through him.
"Who turned off the lights?? Not cool, man :/"
The employees would be on the man below in seconds if they find him, and the loud voice wouldn't be helping him at all. Lampert doesn't want to imagine them closing in, doesn't want to think what they'd do when he's like this. The lamp lets out a sigh, rubbing at his lampshade while knowing he'll have to act fast.
He jumps out of bed, thanking whoever made him that they gave his paws wheels, and begins to run down his base as fast as he can. If he's quick enough, he might be able to make it before any employees come close. Already, he can see them coming out in the distance, beginning to roam the lonely expanse of Rokea. Usually, it would be fine but also usually, there wasn't a plague in the store.
"Kas- Mh. Infected...!" Lampert reluctantly calls out as he reaches the bottom of his base, shaking his head as he hops the rest of the way down and lands as quietly as he can. He takes advantage of the wheels again to skate around, trying to find the parasite based on where he'd heard the voice before. It was so risky to try anything based off of sound considering the active threat, but he really doesn't have many options while he's down here.
"Yooo, did someone call for me? Where are you, brah..." Infected's lazier voice calls out in response and Lampert is quick to skate in the general direction, hoping he's able to find him based off of the one call out. Perhaps one of the good things about this new appearance is that hot pink would hopefully stand out against the darkness, especially to someone who was used to navigating in it.
"Hellooooo? They're ignoring me :/ Bruh..." Infected keeps talking, and Lampert silently curses him for not being able to keep his mouth shut. Though he reluctantly has to agree with himself that the voice is helpful and it doesn't take him much longer to locate the skater.
"Infected!" Lampert whispers now, finally coming to a stop not far behind where said Robloxian was seemingly still admiring a TV, while in the dark. "We have to move, you can't stay here..."
"Hah? Oh, is that uhh... Lampbro? Hey brah... Forgot you were here..." His voice is as careless as ever and he turns to Lampert with his usual lazy expression, one that really bothered the lamp. For a moment, he's stuck staring. A familiar face, absolutely, yet one that wasn't truly familiar. Infected had clearly lost something he'd had before, and now it was as if he wasn't fully here at all. Lampert doesn't like to look.
"Yes, I'm here, I live here..." the lamp speaks up again before his thoughts can run astray, turning away from the Robloxian slightly. Subconsciously, one of his hands comes up to tug gently on his pull cord — a habit he seemingly wasn't in control of. "But that doesn't matter. It isn't safe down here, you have to come with me. Usually, I'd just... Leave you to your own devices, but I don't have much choice here. So... Come on."
Reluctantly, Lampert offers out a hand, expecting Infected to take it but really hoping he wouldn't. Seeing him up close like this, the bags under his eyes and the pink snot constantly dripping from his nose, was far from appealing, but there really was little choice.
"The lights going off was pretty weird! But if you say so..." Infected seems to ponder for a moment — or at least, Lampert thinks he's pondering, he's unsure if its even possible. After a moment of thought, the skater instead turns away and sneezes once, hesitates, and sneezes again.
"This place is so dusty!!" he groans out, wiping at his nose with his arm and shaking his head before finally taking Lampert's still offered hand. "Let's go, broski!"
Lampert immediately tenses up as Infected's hand takes his, disgust coursing through his robotic body. The audacity! The audacity of this man to sneeze, not cover his mouth and then take Lampert's hand as if he were still clean. Disgusting, filthy and yet there's nothing the lamp can do if he wants the other to be safe.
"Right," is all Lampert says in response, a disgruntled expression that was hard to hide stuck on his face as he begins to rush back to his base again.
The way back is slower than his frantic skate over considering he has to accommodate for Infected too, but it definitely could be worse. The skater was slower than he used to be Lampert's sure of that much, but he can still keep up pace. It was a lucky thing too, as he can already hear distant footsteps approaching.
"Excuse me, the store is now closed... Please exit the building..." their monotone voices echo over the otherwise silent atmosphere of Rokea, disrupted by Lampert's wheels and joints as well as Infected's footsteps. They had to be quicker.
"Heyy, these dudes look so weird..." the skaters voice speaks up from behind, and he's temporarily distracted by the approaching threat, slowing his pace. "Where are their faces? Lampdude, look at them..." he stops fully in place, causing said lamp to jolt back in response.
"Hey, there's no time!" Lampert has to regain himself fast, shaking his head before trying to tug at Infected's hand. "They're not friendly, come on!"
Infected doesn't budge for a moment, standing up on his toes as if it would somehow help him see through the darkness. The tugging at his arm seems to be irritating enough to get him to stop, however, and he eventually gives up.
"Man, you're no fun..." the skater complains, pausing again to sneeze and shake his head. "They're sooo weird..." he laughs at them this time, wiping away snot with his arm again before looking back at Lampert. To say he was unamused would be an understatement.
Lampert wasn't sure whether to be grateful he'd stopped or endlessly irritated that he had to do this at all. He should have left Infected to his own devices. He'd already had to do this for him once, after all...
The thought is shaken away with a groan and the two continue their dash back to the base. It was a good thing makeshift stairs had been left behind from a last trip down, beds and closets all bundled up and clipping into each other. Lampert has to practically shove Infected up them before following and kicking away what he can to prevent any employees from following.
Who knew a rescue mission could be such a bother.
"What even is this thing? It goes so high," Infected takes it upon himself to start wandering before Lampert is even finished kicking furniture away, starting to make his way up the wooden ramps. The lamp is tempted to let him start making his way up but he'd rather not have his home intruded on while he's not there. With another shake of his head, a final kick and a crash of furniture, he leads them both up.
"This is my base..." Lampert says when they're at the top, indicating with his arm but not giving Infected the welcoming he'd give anyone else. It was more of a statement than a welcoming.
"Those things you were distracted by down there were employees, and it's dangerous in here at night. So I helped you out. They can't get up here..." Lampert slowly explains, peering back down to see if any were lingering. Infected, however, seemed to already not be listening.
"Hey dudee, I think your floor has a hole in it," the skater is already on his hands and knees, seemingly inspecting something. He looks over at the lamp before looking back again. Lampert's expression turns disgruntled. There shouldn't be any holes. He does decent maintenance on his base...
"What? There shouldn't..." the lamp begins to answer, before the spot Infected is in finally clicks into place. Lampert doesn't finish his sentence, expression complicated as he turns to glare at the planks below him. There wasn't exactly a hole there, it was the missing board of planks Kasper had grabbed before making his descent and breaking near all of the ones below. Lampert had never replaced this one and he likes to tell himself that he's not sure why.
"It's supposed to be like that," he finally answers, coming closer and peering down to stare at the ramps below. It was a view he didn't like to look at, didn't like to remember, and he has to kneel down to usher Infected away.
"It's also dangerous, so step away," Lampert's voice is flat, almost irritated, without meaning to. He can't let what happened that day happen again, especially when there wasn't a life ruining elevator lying around to save them. Luckily, Infected does as told and shuffles back before standing, beginning to look around instead.
"Well... This place is pretty rad otherwise :p Did you make it? That's kinda insane..." the skater trails off, making a start on exploring the small base while Lampert stays locked in place, his gaze following. Did Infected really just say that... again?
"It's... all I've ever done..." the lamp speaks slowly, remembering himself saying those exact words the first time, trailing off before he can say anymore. His face twists into a complicated expression and he has to turn away from the skater to regain his bearings.
Everything was feeling so familiar and it somehow makes Lampert feel sick, a turbulent emotion he wasn't sure his robot body could still comprehend. For Infected to come up to his base and do so many similar things to him... It hurt a little. Maybe a lot. Lampert doesn't really know how to feel about it.
He'd tried to deny it for some time, tried to tell himself that something had happened to the skater and he could somehow disconnect the two in his mind, but this just made it all the more obvious. Kasper was still there, still here, but it wasn't Kasper anymore. At least, not the Kasper he remembers. Not the Kasper who played games with him, bowled with him and cheered on his first strike. Not that Kasper at all, instead a mindless shell who didn't even remember his own name.
Things were better like this though, Lampert has been telling himself this for a while too. Infected is clearly doing just fine, and Lampert himself has other friends. He has his co-workers, the employees of Rokea. He wasn't alone and even if he was, that was fine. Kasper didn't matter, and they didn't need each other anyway. That's what he's been telling himself and that's surely all he needs.
"Hey, Lampbro?" that damn voice cuts into his thoughts and Lampert jolts, caught off guard by the sound. He lets out a shaky breath, shaking his head to ground himself again. Not Kasper indeed... He groans and rubs at his lampshade before turning in place to see what the skater wanted, being met with him holding his shark.
"Hey- Don't-" Lampert doesn't even wait to see what he wanted to say, moving over quickly and taking the plush from his hands before it can be dirtied with that sickness he has. "Don't... touch anything." The lamp's expression turns pained for a moment as he realises he's repeating himself again before shaking his head.
"Don't sneeze on anything," he corrects himself, "preferably don't interact with anything... I don't want my base getting dirty." He subconsciously holds the plush tight, brushing it down with one hand as if wiping away little germs.
"I wasn't... I wanted to say it was cute X3 Reminds me of that cat I used to have, she was cute too... Don't remember her name though..." he trails off, giving a somewhat irritated look as if remembering something. Lampert wonders if he's thinking of that weirdly unpleasant rectangle he's seen enter from the apartments before.
The weird look is quickly brushed off though as another question is asked, "Does the shark have a name? You should call it like... Like... Freaker... Or something..." he trails off again, staring at the shark with an excited expression despite the lack of confidence in his suggestion.
Lampert thinks he's referring to that blue bunny thing he seems to like, but he couldn't really be sure. Half of the things Infected says doesn't make a lot of sense, so it could mean anything. The shark, however, already has a name... But he doesn't think Infected would react too well to knowing the shark was called Kasper. Lampert himself doesn't even react that well to it.
"I'll think about it," he replies after a few beats of quiet, rubbing the shark down again before moving over to put it back on his bed.
"Soooo when does this night thing end? And when does that weird elevator come back?" Infected is speaking again so soon, apparently incapable of leaving them too much quiet. "I'm getting a little tired, I was in there for ages today! The beds in this store looked sooo comfy, I really wanted to try one!"
That would explain why Infected was here for once, it very rarely happened that he left on Rokea after all. Kasper might have, but Infected definitely didn't. Although, him mentioning he was tired was odd, he was under the assumption that Infected never slept.
"The beds would have been fine for you to try if not for the night... All I have to offer is here. Though, I didn't really think you slept..." Lampert's gaze lands on those prominent eyebags before he raises an eyebrow.
"I don't! Usually," Infected answers simply, pausing to sneeze once again before groaning, "but it's kinda lamee around here... There's no games or anything to skate on!" He moves to the side slightly to look almost yearningly at the gamecube lay on Lampert's table, wireless and not in use. It hadn't been used in quite some time and Infected was right in assuming he wouldn't be allowed to use it.
Ignoring the probably unintentional insult towards his base, Lampert shifts back onto his bed, sitting there for a moment before sighing and knowing he's going to have to give in to something. He doesn't particularly want Infected going near anything in his base and it would have to be cleaned intensely after, but having him sleep on the floor was unfair. That and the memory of Kasper still lingers, he doesn't want a repeat.
"You can sleep on one of the couches if you'd like," he answers slowly, picking the shark back up again and laying it on his lap. "Don't touch anything else..."
"Okay! :D" Infected answers happily, making his way over to one of the couches without hesitation. Lampert watches him for a moment as he disappears around the corner before turning to himself with another groan. What a bother... Having Infected up here was giving him too many complicated emotions, but at least now he could finally have that rest he'd wanted.
Lampert glances back again, staring at Infected's reflection through the TV before shaking his head and lying down himself. He could rest... Hopefully.
* * *
When Lampert awakes again, he's met with a heavy weight resting over his chest. Or rather, a weight resting over his entire body, causing him to be somewhat stuck to his bed.
Before Lampert can question too much, he hears a loud snore and that's when what's currently happening finally registers in his head. He blinks once, blinks again and then his expression turns shocked.
"Infected-?!" he loudly whispers, unsure where to put his hands considering how much of the skater was distributed over him. It felt like he'd just flopped right onto Lampert, straddling one leg, one of his arms over the side and a small pool of pink drool on his bed.
It was rather disgusting being so close like this and Lampert knows he should be mad at this filth infecting him, and yet... Now that he's this close to Infected, able to look at his face where it's lay against his bed, he feels those conflicted emotions again. Up close like this, he sees Kasper once again. Or at least, a very run down version of Kasper... Almost as if he'd let go of himself, allowed himself to slump into a sorry state. It makes Lampert feel... Pity.
With one hand, he very hesitantly reaches out, hand stroking some of his hair and able to feel that awful greasy texture. Lack of care for sure. He wants to reach out further, his hand so close to Infected's face before he pulls away with a small shake of his head. His hands move back to his sides again for a moment before he instead wraps them around Infected, holding him albeit very loosely.
They lay there for what feels like awhile, Lampert taking the opportunity to inspect the skater as much as he can through the darkness. It felt weird to be watching him sleep, but it was also giving him some twisted form of acceptance. After so much denial and trying to act like everything was better, he has the chance to realise it was much more complicated than that.
Kasper was indeed Infected, even if Infected wasn't necessarily the Kasper he remembers. There's disconnect for sure, and yet the feelings Lampert harboured have certainly carried over. They're complicated feelings nonetheless and the lamp really can't decipher what that pain in his chest means.
"I still care about you... don't I?" Lampert whispers to himself after some studying, a frown on his face as he blinks away any other gathering emotions. His tail shifts up to wrap gently around Infected's leg, an action he'd do alot to Kasper whenever they hung out at his apartment. It was a hard thing to admit in a way, especially after trying so hard to convince himself that he didn't need Kasper, but it was true. Reluctantly, he still cared alot for Infected.
The lamp sighs again, softly tapping the plug of his tail against Infected's thigh before reluctantly releasing it again. His gaze studies the skaters face once more, watches drool slip from his mouth and land on his bed, before he closes his eyes once more. What a pain...
He resists the urge to open his eyes again, to look for Kasper one more time, and allows his head to fall back. It takes awhile but eventually he falls back asleep, ignoring the slight dampness on his lampshade.
* * *
"Sorry again for falling asleep on you, dude. Idek how that happened... DX" Infected is back on the couch once again while Lampert kneels on his bed, scrubbing at the pool of drool with some cloth he was lucky to have on hand. "I guess I haven't slept in so long I forgot I probs sleep walked lol..."
Lampert doesn't respond right away, watching as the mess of pink disappears under the soap he was scrubbing it with. It felt symbolic in a way, but he's not too sure it reflects the situation properly. With another shake of his head, he scrubs a little harder.
"It's fine. Nothing you could control I suppose," he answers flatly, not really wanting to talk too much to Infected just yet. Those thoughts from the night were still buzzing faintly in his head and he isn't ready to make amends with them yet, not while he was still here at least.
In the distance, the familiar sound of the elevator can be heard, jolting them both out of the momentary silence that had followed. The doors open and the tourists are let loose, running wildly around in their efforts to find Lampert as usual.
"There's your exit," the lamp speaks flatly, scrubbing a little harder with the cloth before shaking his head and leaving it in place. "Better get going, there's not alot of time before it leaves again," he gets up and stands close to the still missing planks so he can watch Infected's departure.
"Right!! I better go soon huh. Thanks for saving me last night, Lampert! Much appreciated brah X3" He waves at the lamp before beginning to make his descent down the bases ramps before any response can be given.
Lampert doesn't follow, stunned into silence. He blinks a few times, staring at the empty spot where Infected had just been. Had he really just called him his name? That was... Rare, to say the least. How much did that skater really remember?
With another groan and rub at his lampshade, Lampert shakes his head, deciding now still wasn't the time to dwell. Instead, he moves over to the other side of his base, sitting down and allowing his legs to dangle over the edge. Infected appears at the bottom, almost conveniently on time, and begins making his way back to the elevator.
"Hm... I sure do care, don't I..." Lampert whispers to himself again. He does, in fact, watch long enough to make sure Infected makes it in time before shuffling back again. Another day of not being found, and finally some peace... Though perhaps time to unpack was a better phrase for today.