ABBACCHIO.
——— IT HAD BEEN MONTHS SINCE HE’D DIED. since the both of them had died. he still feels something in his chest, he feels fucking sand in his chest, he doesn’t know what he feels anymore. it’s hard to breathe, sometimes. even harder still to stand. yet… he was alive.
he takes in a breath. it’s shaking. he’s surprised he isn’t shaking. he closes his eyes for a moment as buccellati asks him how he’s feeling, and laughs.
❝ i feel like i died, buccellati.
❞ he mutters. lifts a hand up and drags it down his face.
❝ i feel like my heart isn’t real. i… i don’t fucking know anymore.
❞
———HAD IT NOT BEEN POINTED OUT, his death might have escaped him entirely. eyes fluttering, the man rested his head on two fingers, alert yet waning. he moved his hand to the side of the bed where abbacchio sat propped, brushing down the creases.
❝ this might be the first time i’ve heard you concerned about whether or not you were alive. ❞
the bluntness of the statement forced the man’s grip, tightening over a desire to stay his mouth. when had he become so careless with his words? had empathy been lost over these months alone…?
❝ i was starting to think we’d both rot away here while you slept. ❞