it started with a dm

Because Anton was untouchable, gorgeous and haunted. The kind of man people didn't just thirst over; they worshipped, and Theo was just a voice.

.....Until that night.

- - - - - -

It was raining....one of those soft, ceaseless kinds that turned city streets into symphonies. Theo had just wrapped up a private dub session for a fan project, Argos asleep on his lap, and his headset still warm around his neck. He was scrolling through the Sharpwolf tag again, half-lost in the digital fever dream of animatics and fic snippets and gorgeous, gut-wrenching fanart.

One animatic stopped him cold: Antinous looking at Telemachus like he wanted to ruin him and also save him.

And his own voice was in it. That line.

"You don't have to go alone this time."

Cracked, raw, and too real. It looped over Anton's infamous stare, yes, the stare that had practically become a meme in its own right.

The caption? :"He looks at him like he's the only home he ever knew."🎭🩸🦋

Theo felt something in his chest fold inward. An ache, low and quiet, like homesickness for something that never existed. He wanted to know. Did Anton ever watch these? Did he even care? Did he feel anything when they performed those lines....when their characters ached and snapped and broke for each other?

He closed the app and tried to shake the thought. It was stupid, and he was spiraling again.

Then his laptop pinged. It was a notification from Twitter.

Anton Vale had posted a video.

No caption, no tag. Just....a quiet upload. He immediately tapped the video, barely breathing. It was a cover, no fanfare. Just Anton and a guitar, fingers stumbling once or twice. Raw, imperfect, and real. He sang "If I Be Wrong" by Wolf Larsen, every note filled with a softness that felt carved out of grief.

"And what if I can't, what if I can

What if I'm just an ordinary man..."

That line and that voice. Theo went still. He watched it. Then again, and again. His eyes stung as he, too, sang the lyrics.

The way Anton sang that song?? It wasn't just beautiful. It hurt. It sounded like someone mourning a love that had never been allowed to exist and that's why he was smiling like a fool. Anton and Wolf Larsen's song was just the right kind of remedy Theo needed, topped with the soft sound of rain in the background.

His fingers moved before his brain caught up.

Theo (1:53 AM):
your voice on that song......fck. it hit like ribs breaking from love. thanks for singing it. i needed that tonight.

He hit send and immediately wanted to die.

"What the fuck did I just do?" he groaned into his pillow, Argos shifting with a yawn. He'd embarrassed himself. There was no way Anton would even see that. His inbox probably looked like a Greek chorus of thirst and praise.

He turned off his laptop and slept like garbage.

At dawn, Telemachus woke to the sound of his phone buzzing. A staff member was calling about work, so he rolled over with a groggy sigh, opened his laptop, and started sending over the files, and hust as he hit send, a notification popped up from Twitter. Barely awake, he clicked it without thinking; then froze.