fully going to watch the artful dodger now, thanks for infecting me with your blorbo fixation
the blorbo fixation with the artful dodger is VERY REAL! i'm so glad to read this!!! you're welcome (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)
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false infinity - ethubs
ao3 link for easier reading (my user is diff, apologies)
last life spoilers! also not beta read, i was too excited
summary;
He thought that he would win it. For both of them.
Maybe wanting to win was just a set-up for disappointment.
-
Despite how heavy he felt, he couldn’t close his eyes just yet. He cast them to the sky, with exhaustion bleeding into him and whatever had decided to kill him, his only remaining friends. It always ended the same. It always would.
How foolish he was, to think that he could live forever. And how even more foolish it was to think Bdubs would join him too. Except you can’t promise someone infinity if infinity didn’t exist– the game would have to end, or else was it even really a game anymore? The infinity never existed for them, not really. Etho couldn’t fight for his own life, what made him think he could fight for both of theirs? Besides, if it ever came to the two of them, what made him think it would stay like that forever? Probably his own stupid ego.
He laughed, though, of course, no one heard. Bdubs would’ve made a funnier joke anyways, no need to waste his breath.
In any case, his mind drifted back to Bdubs (like it always did). Bdubs had been naive to think that it would be the two of them at the end of all of this (except, he also thought this, so who was he to say who was naive and who wasn’t? There was a possibility he was just as naive, but Etho liked to think of himself as better than that, even if everyone knew he’d die for Bdubs as Bdubs would for him). How different things could’ve been if he changed a few things. Or maybe he just liked to tell himself that. If this, if that– not like it’ll do anything for either of them. Perhaps the thought just comforted him.
Except he couldn’t close his eyes just yet.
Denial was the first stage of grief after all, and couldn’t he grieve for his own life?
He stared back up at the sky, clouds swirling. Maybe he never really got over Bdubs’ death– like he would just open his eyes and there he was, a toothy grin and new antic ready for them to do. Mornings were never quite the same after, and the nights somehow were lonelier.
Back then (and perhaps even now), Etho thought he could save them. They’d see the glory days and every sunrise to grace the land (Etho was more of a sunset man himself, but he’d rather wake-up to Bdubs shaking him awake lest they would be late for the next sunrise than stay with his thoughts).
Now, he won’t live to see anything. He’ll just die, and if Etho’s lucky, join him.
Though, he guessed that it didn’t really mean anything. No matter which of them died first, they always would. That’s just how the cards were dealt; how the dice rolled; how the narrative went. Everyone would die, that was the rule. It was a shame he only got it in his last few seconds here. Normally, he was quite observant (or so Bdubs says (said, he reminded himself)).
He supposed that immortality would’ve been boring anyways. They’d do everything– finish every goal, see everything around them die before they would. Maybe Bdubs had the right idea in dying first, no need to mourn the lost or grow bored with their life. To ask for anything more than the time they were already given was just greedy. Even if that brief, small window of time just felt like an insignificant moment (bitter tea, snow boots, and fingertips).
He smiled at that.
They were only a moment, and maybe (just maybe), if Etho wasn’t so greedy or Bdubs so naive, it would’ve been enough. Only in another life. Whatever they had, as soothing and perfect it felt, was just finite, and nothing would change that.
Well, if they were just finite, at least they were finite together. The thought let Etho close his eyes. Before he went, he thought of one thing, and one thing only. Then, he let go.
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