Chapter Text
Cold.
In Suguru's life everything was cold, he lived almost automatically, no matter what happened he would do his routine, his boring and depressing routine.
He woke up as soon as the sun came up, he didn't feel like getting out of bed, in fact he never wanted to leave his bed, but he does and he crawls out of bed as if the sheets had stuck to him and were part of his skin, it hurt to wake up, it hurt to live.
Cold
The mornings are always cold because of the trees around him, although he would like to live inside the forest because of his job he stays at the edges of it, even so the leafy trees give him a cold breeze while he drinks coffee outside his house, a few years ago he enjoyed watching the sun begin its work of illuminating the entire town, watching the sunrise end was something he enjoyed doing, but like everything in his life and routine it became absurd and repetitive, now seeing that end of sunset made him want to jump off a cliff, he hated his routine and life, but above all he hated that he had let this little detail that he enjoyed become depressing.
Cold and even colder
It's amazing how much his life had changed in the last few years.
Cold and loneliness
At what point did you become so depressed?
When did he start losing track of time?
Since when did him have trouble remembering things you experienced during the day?
He was so detached from reality
But… there was always the cold to remind him that he was still alive, unfortunately, but he was alive.
Finally he saw the sunset of his common day, just as boring and depressing as the others, but watching the sunset was not something typical in his routine, but he still did it.
He sat on the green and slightly damp shepherd while humming a song he heard on his last visit to a canteen, he took off his hat leaving it beside him, being his only company at the moment, while the sun set behind the mountains the melody became more confusing and simply whispered the little that remembered until he finally fell silent under the starry sky and a gentle wind that moved his long hair that was now loose.
He listened to the crickets create their own nightly melody as the trees rustled in the wind, he closed his eyes as he listened to the soft and relaxing sounds of nature, didn't plan on making this a habit, maybe he would do this every time his life completely overwhelmed him.
And for the first time in many years, he didn't feel cold, but didn't feel anything.
Clearly the touch on his shoulder made the stranger's wrist counterattack as a snake bite would.
“Excuse me Miss” said as his wrist was attacked but seeing Suguru's serious face he retracted “Sorry dude, I didn't mean to scare you... normally I wouldn't do this but... hide me” When he was going to ask the mysterious man what was wrong with his attitude he collapsed next to him
“Oh shit, fucking shit” this man didn’t just collapse, he was dying on his own property, there wasn’t much light but Suguru could see if his dark shirt had moisture in the abdomen, I would recognize that liquid when I touched it, a thick liquid with an iron smell and a red color.
He looked around trying to find where this stranger had come from, but he simply appeared out of nowhere, although the light night fog illuminated by the moonlight would not be of any help in locating a fact that would give him an answer to this dying body at his side.
“Fuck."
He blinked a couple of times, his vision was blurry and his stomach was about to spill everything inside, but at the same time there was a bandage that covered his wound quite well, he even felt that there was a seam in that wound, a slight flame from a candle in the center of a table not too far away was not enough to know where he was, at least he was still alive, that was an advantage, for now of course.
“Speak, who the hell are you?”
“Can you let me breathe for the first time? Jesus” said the white-haired man as he sat up on what he thought was a couch, his eyes were failing him quite a bit and the low light wasn’t helping, he searched through his pockets and slightly with his hands on the furniture “Can you give me my handkerchief” he said with discomfort “Also, do you think you’re a vampire or some shit? Come out of the darkness, dude” he rubbed his eyes and massaged his temples a little
“Watch your tone of voice with me, bandit” Suguru spat throwing the dark handkerchief with white and sky blue decoration on the fabric, he really wasn't that far away, he was near a wall waiting for that man to wake up
“Thank you princess” he gave a silly smile as he placed the handkerchief on his forehead to cover his eyes, this action caused Suguro to be strange - Weeeiiiird - he thought but did not dare to say anything. “Satoru and I am not a bandit, not at all”
“It doesn’t matter, get out”
“Wh-”
"Go away"
“Not even a coffee?”
“Nope, see you never, don’t come back”
They both remained silent for a couple of minutes.
“I’m still dizzy, if you let me spend the night here I’ll pay you”
“This is not a hotel, you bandit.”
“It’s a deal, see you tomorrow honey”
Before Suguru could say anything the stranger lay down again as when him was unconscious and in a few moments he could already hear the snoring coming from the white-haired man.
Suguru could have easily kicked him out of his house, it wasn't safe to sleep on the same roof as a stranger, but... was really curious about that person, it was a very radical change in his routine.
That night Suguru slept with one eye open, but didn't feel cold, there was a flame of curiosity, there was no cold, but felt something.
Normally Geto had trouble sleeping, but as soon as his head touched the pillow he fell asleep, he had a dream that later when he woke up he didn't remember, but dreaming, that simple fact gave him peace.
Suguru Geto, a person who normally did not dream and had difficulty remembering what day it was, a person who felt cold and lonely, the only thing that reminded him that he was still alive was not feeling anything...feeling calm and curious about the stranger in the living room of his home. This all felt different. Before, his feeling that told him -hey, idiot, you're alive so do your job- didn't feel the same as this feeling, more of a question than a statement -are you alive?-
Was he?
Was he alive?
“Are you alive?”
He was startled to see the man leaning against the door frame. If he had his gun nearby, he would have shot him a couple of times without hesitation, but instead he only got a look of hatred and threw his hat at him, which the stranger caught in the air.
“Thanks, black suits me better” He said as he exchanged his white hat for the black one that belonged to Suguru.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Suguru shouted, this guy made him angry with his mere existence, Satoru just laughed as he left his room, surely he would return to where he had spent the night.
He pulled half of his black hair into a bun that was a little messy, but perfect for holding on. After a quick change of clothes, he left the room still with his brow furrowed.
“Hi darling, thanks for the hat”
“Give it back to me”
“Nah”
Suguru growled and before saying anything Satoru threw something at him, it was a little complicated but he was able to catch it, it was… it was Satoru's hat.
“It’s light outside, get out”
“Are you always like this with your guests?”
“You are not a guest,” Suguru growled, walking on and out of his home. He didn’t care much about leaving the albino alone. There was nothing of value there, at least nothing of value to Geto.
“Where are you going?” said Satoru who had followed him, but instead stayed at the door of the house, as if he was the real vampire and didn’t want the sun.
“It’s none of your business,” he said, a few meters from his home.
Even though he was more conscious today than other days, he still had to do his routine, although being more in reality made his tasks a little more complicated.
His lands were not very big nor the best, he really had a bit of everything, some chickens, some fruit trees and bushes, there were also some vegetables planted that for now he only waters and makes sure to protect them from pests and other animals.
Everything he had was for his own consumption, but every now and then he had something left over and he sold it in the village.
“I’ll help you,” Satoru said, taking the bucket of pienzo from Suguru’s hands. “I didn’t think you were a farmer. You don’t look like one, but you don’t do it well either.”
“I’m not” Suguru said, staring at his chickens pecking at the feed on the ground. “It was something I learned, I used to be… nevermind, it was years ago,” he said, touching his forehead and closing his eyes tightly, not wanting a migraine later. “What about you? You seem to know what you’re doing, but your attitude says you’re a thief.”
“I grew up on a farm, I was… a good rook” he said with a smile, he handed the bucket back to him “But… I'm sure that if I hadn't made the decisions back then I would have never gotten out of there, well maybe I would have escaped even so” Suguru felt that Satoru was read between the lines, saying and listening to what he wanted, what a guy.
“And why do you cover your eyes?”
“I am too handsome for this world”
"Asshole"
“Oh princess, don’t be like that” he took off the dark scarf and blinked a few times “I’m practically blind, everything is so bright and blurry at the same time, it’s like… when you’re about to faint? Or something like that”
"All time?"
“Yep”
"Are you kidding me?"
“Nope”
“You have a wad for a gun, your clothes tell me that you probably ride a horse and you also catch and throw things, you must be kidding me.” His tone detonated distrust.
“With something dark in my eyes it's easier, the world isn't so bright and well, I didn't stay like this a week ago, it's been years and years of trial and error” he said while making sure to tighten the knot of his handkerchief.
“And that was while you were a farmer?”
“I actually went blind the same day I fled that place.”
“You have a whole origin story or…”
"Or…? "
“Or you are a good liar…Satoru”
“I am not a guest, Suguru”
“No, you're not”
Satoru wasn't a guest, they both knew it, but still Suguru couldn't understand this stranger, just last night he was closer to being an unidentified corpse than an invader in his house, although it was different, years ago when Suguru visited the village and other towns around him almost daily he heard about these scams, they would pretend to be injured people and then a gang of bandits would appear out of nowhere and steal everything, they also committed other horrible crimes if there were more relatives, all of that disgusted Suguru, but Satoru didn't give that appearance, it didn't seem like at any moment he was going to pull his gun out of the bushes to call his fellow thieves, anyway, would he have done it already?
“You sow very little and harvest less. What's wrong with you?”
Suguru frowned in disagreement, the albino was the very image of a thief and had really focused on helping Suguru with his routine on his small farm, giving him advice on things to improve his harvest or feed his animals, which he really appreciated but wouldn't say out loud to feed the bandit's ego.
“It's just for me, I don't need to make big harvests, if there is something left over, every so often a friend will come and take some things”
“Is he coming soon?”
He asked as he cleared his throat a little.
“On the weekend, I think, she sometimes changes the day”
“She will still receive tomatoes with pests, you should take better care of these little ones, they are very nutritious”
“Oh… shut up”
He rolled his eyes as they both followed the black-haired boy's routine, the born farmer still chattering about every single thing the long-haired boy did.
It was strange how tired he felt, his shoulders ached and he sat defeated on the couch, a loud sigh of exhaustion echoed through the house. Did he feel this tired just because he didn't feel so automatic this day?
"Here"
Groping with one of his hands he placed a glass of water on the table in front of them, it was strange for Suguru, it seemed that for the first time all day Satoru really couldn't see, this time there was only a smaller candle that would soon burn out.
“Satoru…are you okay?” he said as he took the glass between his lips
“Yeah, well, when the light is dim it’s even dimmer on my eyes, but don’t worry babe, I can handle this.”
He said as he removed his handkerchief, once again feeling his way along the table until he touched the edge to make sure he knew where they were the next morning.
“You can ask for help”
“I don’t need it.” He smiled, showing a tender smile for Suguru. “I already told you, I’ve been blind for years, this is a routine for me.”
“You are fucking weird”
He took a couple of sips from his glass.
The man who was bleeding to death on his property yesterday was today an unwanted tenant, like a termite eating away at the wood of his house to make its own house, only this termite was blind and wouldn't shut its damn mouth.
Does this man have a home in the first place?
“Where do you come from? Bandit”
“From anywhere” Suguru rolled his eyes, Satoru was unaware of his annoyance until he heard the click of his tongue “From a farm that no longer exists, it's true, I'm from where the night falls and at dawn I'll have another place to go” he spoke quickly to try to lessen Suguru's slight anger.
“Weird, you're weird Satoru” He left the glass half empty (or half full?) on the table, he made sure not to leave it near Satoru's handkerchief, he didn't want anything to happen “Then I hope that by tomorrow you already have a new place”
"I like you”
"What?"
“It was nice meeting you, Suguru Geto”
The man fell silent, his brow relaxing into something resembling a sad face. He was never good at goodbyes, no matter how casual they were, he always had a hard time answering them, considering he had recently been in an automatic state like a machine; this was even stranger… How should he answer this?
“I guess,” he said with a slight sigh and stood up. He walked a couple of steps to his room and stopped halfway. “Good night…cowboy.” He continued on his way, hearing some mockery from the albino, which he didn’t really pay attention to.
There was no longer cold