Out of Sight (RQ AU)

The Reunion (3)

He'd missed him so much.

/

Sabre had spent the rest of the day in the Leader's house- Well, M's house now. As the evening came by, the steves slowly returned back to their houses. Sabre was kept inside for the rest of the day, M set up an area on the couch for him to rest.

It was about 8:06pm. Sabre laid down on the couch, looking at the ceiling blankly. This all felt so weird. He'd been living with Origin for months, living in a small cottage, then he was here. It took everything for him to not run around all the kingdoms to see if everything had changed.

Maybe even that small village was different now.

Sabre paused as he realized something.

Where was Time?

/

The pale moonlight shined through the window, only broken up by the trees that blocked it. Sorin looked at it, almost as if he was waiting for the shadows on the floor to dance across it like ghosts.

Knocking thumped against Sorin's door.

"You can come in, Copper."

The door creaked open. The orange glow of the house lights covered up the glow of the moon. Sorin sat up to look at his friend.

"I'm gonna head home now.. it's getting late. You'll be okay, right? There's some extra food in the fridge if-"

"Mm, yeah. I'll be alright. Seeya Copper."

Copper wished he could help his friend, but he didn't know what to do except try and take his mind off it. That didn't seem to be working now, though.

"I- I'll.. yeah. Goodnight, Sorin."

The door clicked shut and the moonlight flooded the room again as if it were hiding. Sorin looked up to the ceiling and stared at it blankly. Everything just felt dull now.

Sorin closed his eyes and let himself slide back down into the covers of the bed. He didn't want to open them now, maybe if he didn't he'd think it's all just a bad dream.

God he wished it was.

/

M paused as he heard someone walking up his stairs, then realized it was none other than Sabre.

".. you need something?"

It still felt so unreal to see Sabre in the flesh again, but M ignored that feeling as the boy walked towards him. He was playing with the strings of his hoodie and kept looking at the ground; M silently noted he should get Sabre something to sleep in besides the same hoodie.

"M..?"

"Yeah?"

"Is Time.. back yet?"

No words escaped M's lips for a moment, and he knew the answer was a wholehearted no. He hadn't seen Time since Sabre left. He didn't even think either of them had survived until now.

"Uh.. no. I'm sorry, I haven't seen him."

"..oh. Yeah that- that makes sense I-" Sabre looked around the room, as if Time would pop out from any corner, "I was just curious."

"It's fine." M didn't really know what to say. Sabre clearly missed Time, but what could M do about it? He decided to just change the subject for now, "Do you want something else to sleep in? I mean, we have pajamas and whatnot so-"

"No, it's fine, I don't wanna bother you." Sabre murmured the second half of that.

"You're not." M said, noticing it immediately, along with how nervous Sabre seemed, "It's okay, hey, look I-"

M had been getting off the bed to try and comfort Sabre a bit more, but Sabre backed away. M paused, then tried to get closer again. Sabre didn't move anyway, he just stared at M.

"I don't wanna be a bother but.. is something wrong?"

Fidgeting with his sleeves, Sabre sighed. Words filled his mouth but none of them even seemed right, why try and explain? Regardless, he doubted M wanted him to leave feeling bothered, so there wasn't much of a way out.

"... I just- Everything's so sudden and- I don't know I guess I just expected things to be back to normal when I got back?.. but nothing's the same. Time's gone and maybe for good too, and you're a leader- which, I mean, that's great!.."

Sabre paused and looked down, gulping. He started to pace as he went on again.

"I just.. it feels so out of place for me to be here now. I'm- If the world destroys itself again because I'm here we might not be able to fix that and everyone seems to be moved on and even be excited I'm back but I-"

He froze as something hot and wet fell down his cheek. Tears. Sabre silently wiped it away and sniffed.

"I-I'm sorry I just.."

M ran over and, for the hundredth time, hugged Sabre. It wasn't as tight as before, just enough to make him feel warm and safe. M felt Sabre press his head onto his shoulder. He couldn't tell if he was sobbing or not, but it didn't matter. The only thing M focused on was that Sabre needed comfort right now.

He slowly stepped back until they reached the bed, and M laid down on it, still holding Sabre. He didn't seem ready to remove his face from M's shoulder, so he let him rest there.

"..whenever you're ready, I'm here."

Sabre hummed a bit to acknowledge he heard M.

M sighed and tugged the covers over himself. He didn't mind letting Sabre rest here tonight, he needed some time to adjust back after all.

Even so, M wanted Sabre to stay too. It's been so long since they saw each other, it still almost felt like a dream.

As M gently shut his eyes, he silently hoped he would wake up and Sabre would still be real, still next to him.

That's all that mattered.

/

Kinda a filler chapter whoopsie, tired and mentally crashed lmao

Also unfortunately yeah I don't plan time to be in this story sorry D:

The actual stalker stuff will begin in a chapter or two! Planning one or two more scenes of the reunions but after that, quick timeskip and boom the angst arrives :)

Anyways hope y'all enjoyed lmao