TW: Kind of Angst?

Title: ~Rings~

The apartment seems emptier without Sjin’s personality to brighten it up. It’s quiet, because Sips had hardly talked before he met Sjin- and now, he’s got no reason to. His work is entirely online, so he never has to speak to another person. He distantly wonders how scratchy his voice will be if he ever needs to speak again.

Around his neck is a silver chain, something Sjin had given him for their first anniversary together. Now, three years later, it carries the ring Sjin had left on the table.

Their friends come around sometimes, just long enough to check on him. They all claim to not know where Sjin is, but if he wasn’t so sure Sjin no longer cared, he’d say they were reporting back to him. Lalna seems to understand the best, and he never tries to get Sips to talk, just gives him the opportunity to input into his one-sided conversations about work and their friends, minus Sjin. He always stays the longest.

It’s been two months now, and Sips is struggling to keep up with his work. He doesn’t know why he can’t just sit down and do it, but he can’t focus.

Finally, three months after Sips picked up the silver engraved ring from the table and realized what it meant, he breaks down and cries. He berates himself after, yelling that he was never supposed to get attached to someone- that was never part of his survival plan. He throws his cell phone against the wall.

It shatters.

Xephos comes around a few days later to check on him, make sure he’s okay, but when he sees the shards of ceramic from one of the plates in the kitchen, he stops and gently, quietly, cleans it up. He pretends he doesn’t see Sips’ red-rimmed eyes and shaking hands. Before he leaves, Sips grabs his collar.

“Not a fucking word, Xephos. To anyone,” he growls, his voice scratchy with misuse.

Xephos nods and keeps his word.

The next time Lalna comes around, he appears normal on the outside. He loses himself in listening to the man talk, and before he knows it, he’s asleep.

It doesn’t last long, of course, and he wakes up feeling the same as he did before, but when he thinks he’s going to lose it, he opens his eyes and sees Lalna sitting on the other side of the couch, reading a book.

He breathes.

Xephos is still the only one to have heard him speak in three and a half months now. Honeydew doesn’t come by as much as the other two, but he’s starting to stay as long as Lalna. His talking keeps Sips’ mind occupied.

It’s two weeks later when he hears the front door creak open- he hasn’t slept in the bed once since Sjin left, and he doesn’t plan to start now. Too many memories.

He tenses, ready to attack, when he realizes they think he’s asleep. They close the door and come closer, eventually kneeling in front of the couch. He keeps his breathing deep and steady.

A hand runs through the hair on his head, gently like Sjin used to do.

Knowing his own sleeping behavior, he shifts, and then mentally curses at himself when the ring falls from his shirt, dangling on the chain.

The stranger gasps, and Sips’ eyes snap open- even just that noise, he knows who it is.

“Sjin.”