In my heart, in my head [PaperHat]

Epilogue

Flug shoved a key into the lock of the apartment door, opening it to be greeted with the scent of roses and other kinds of plantation. He limped into the small apartment with a grin on his face, uttering a gentle hello to a row of cacti laid out on one of the windowsills.
"Blackhat?~" he called out playfully, "You home?"
"Yeah, honey! Just in the kitchen" his fiancé called back.
Flug tiptoed over to the doorway of the kitchen, peering in to see Blackhat stirring something delicious looking in a pot. It bubbled softly and steam swirled off of it in curls and swirls.
"Smells delicious!" Flug beamed, skipping around the back of Blackhat and giving him a kiss on the back of his neck. He wrapped his arms around him and sighed dreemily, taking in all of the love he had for him in the world, and getting lost in the moment.
"Thanks, babe. Its your favourite!"
"Mmm leek and potato soup, you know me well,"
Blackhat nodded and hummed.
"It'll be ready in a few minutes," he replied "so go get some rest and I'll bring it to our room, okay?"
"Will you eat with me today?" Flug whined, forcing a chuckle to come from his fiancé.
"Of course, now rest up!"
Blackhat turned around and they shared a quick kiss before Flug stumbled out of the kitchen and into the bedroom. He flopped onto the bed and stretched out, his pant leg lifting up slightly to reveal thick scarring on his leg.
Flug wished he remembered where he got that scar from, for the life of him he couldn't seem to think of a moment in his life where he had ever gotten into an accident like that.
He remembered the day when he was mugged, the day he met Blackhat. Everything else after that was fuzzy, almost non-existent. He assumed the scar must have come from that incident, but he had no memory of ever being stabbed in the leg.
It was all so confusing, but he was happy nonetheless.
He rolled over on the bed and stared at the wardrobe opposite him, a triangle of white cloth sticking out from between the closed doors. It was his old labcoat, he assumed. He hadn't warn it in a long time, he didn't even know why he had it in the first place.
He got up, suddenly very bored, and made his way towards the cupboard.
A vibration sounded next to him, and he lazily picked up his phone from his bedside table, holding it between his ear and his shoulder so he could multitask.
"Hello?" he hummed into the speaker.
"Hi Flug!!" an excited voice echoed a reply into his ear, and he knew who it was instantly.
"Oh hey, Demencia! How are you and 5.0.5 doing? I was going to pop by after my trip to the store but my leg is killing me..."
"That's okay, have as much rest as you can! 5.0.5 and I are doing fine! we went to the aquarium yesterday--"
Demencia continued talking about her day, Flug just barely listening as he opened his wardrobe and ran his fingers gently over the fabric of the lab coat hung in there. It was covered in dust now, and the particles came off in thick layers onto his fingers.
He picked it up and inspected it closely, feeling no emotion towards the item he didn't know meant so much to him in another lifetime.
As he ran his hand down the front of the clothing another time, he noticed a bump in one of the pockets. Confused, he dug his hand into the pocket and felt around. A scrunched up piece of paper presented itself in his hand.
"What's this...?" he said to himself. Demencia stopped talking on the other end of the line for a second.
"What's what?"
"I found something in one of my pockets. Hold on, chick," he said quickly and put his phone down on the bedside table.
He clumsily flopped down on the edge of the bed and un-scrambled the paper, opening up all of its secrets in front of his eyes.
The paper read:

Blackhat and I have found ourselves in the middle of some kind of field. I'm not sure what this place represents, but it's nice. And I'm calm. He keeps looking at me with sadness in his eyes, but he's beautiful. I know that now. This is beauty i've never seen in him before and I don't know why I ever regretted making this machine in the first place. He's still a little hurt, but he's doing okay. Things are going to be good.

Flug stopped for a second. His breath hitched and his eyes widened as memory after memory came flooding back into his mind. His boss, the machine, Blackhat Inc.
Horrified, Flug looked down at his leg where the scar was, and he almost couldn't hear Demencia asking him if he was okay in the back of his mind.
"I...used to be a scientist...D-Demencia...oh my god," Flug covered his mouth and began to cry, he couldn't keep back the flood of tears making their way down his cheeks and onto his fingers.
"Flug..." Demencia said quietly.
"I-I'll be back, I have to do something," Flug said as he ended the call. He threw on his old lab coat and rushed into the kitchen where Blackhat placed the last of the knives and forks onto the table, along with the bowls of soup.
Blackhat looked up with a smile, which dissolved away as fast as it had appeared.
"Flug, what's wrong? Is that your old coat?"
Flug didn't even answer, he just ran towards his former boss and wrapped his arms around him as tightly as he could, bawling his eyes out and whaling.
"Oh god, Jefecito I remembered everything, it all came back. I love you so much...I love you so so much. I'm sorry,"
Blackhat just held him. They both fell to the floor in a pile of hugs.
"It's okay," Blackhat whispered as he stroked his fiancé's hair.
"It's okay,"

That night, Blackhat and Flug went to bed with full stomachs. Blackhat's arm was wrapped comforting around Flug as he drifted off to sleep, but Flug's eyes stayed open, glued to the ceiling.
The image of the monstrous version of Blackhat wouldn't leave his mind, the fictional one and the one his partner used to be.
Flug turned to look at Blackhat's face. This version of him was much more gorgeous in comparison as he snored the night away.
Flug nudged him gently and gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead so he'd wake up slightly.
"Sorry for waking you up, honey," he whispered into the darkness.
"Its okay. What's troubling you?" Blackhat responded with the calmest tone.
"Do you think...Do you think I'm handsome?" he asked hesitantly.
"Of course I do, Flug,"
"And do you love me?"
"With all of my heart,"
Flug paused a moment, sighing.
"Could you ever forgive me for what I put you through?"
"I already have, Flug. I should be asking you the same, really. I never thought you'd end up remembering. I should have told you sooner. I figured we could start fresh,"
"I love you, Blackhat. I always have. It's just...weird,"
"How so?"
"Life was so much different back then, wasn't it? I almost felt more content just...not knowing. But all of these memories inside my head-"
"I understand,"
Flug took Blackhat's hand tenderly as if he was holding on for dear life.
"What happened to the machine?"
Blackhat told him about how it was destroyed completely. The parts sent off to donate to superheroes just starting off. Blackhat also told him that he'd made peace with the townsfolk of their old town. They all moved far away, the townsfolk helping them start their new lives. It was fresh, and new. Everything was okay.
"Ah yeah, that part I remember much," Flug started again.
"You know, Blackhat. I'm proud of you..."
The scientist felt his partner stir a little.
"I'm proud of you, too. I don't know how you can look at me the same now,"
Flug just kissed him softly.
"I love you, Blackhat. I love...you,"
Flug snuggled closer to Blackhat and rested his head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.
"I love you, too, Flug. More than you can imagine,"