Cicil let the comforting silence settle around them as he tugged the blanket from the edge of the couch down and curled up beside his husband, album in his lap for another night of flipping through forgotten memories until he fell asleep. With the day's excitement of finally coming back home and relearning their homelife bit by bit, it didn't take much for Cicil to start nodding off against LArson's shoulder, his eyes fluttering shut no matter how many times he tried to adjust himself on the couch or tell himself just 5 more minutes. As much as he wanted to spend every hour he could with Larson now that he was back home, above all else, Cicil was still human and needed sleep.
6 months later ~
Cicil was seated at the dining room table early one morning, an array of textbooks, notes, and his laptop scattered on its surface. He had gotten up early with the determination to continue his studies and make the most out the day while Larson slept. Even now it had still taken him a while to get used to their sleep schedule. When he had first come back, he had scared himself with worry over Larson not waking up in the morning that they had accidentally woken Larson up multiple times before realizing this was normal for vampires. Cicil typed a few notes into his long document as he found another source on memories. They had called Finn a few months back after Cicil had gotten himself a bit more situated and comfortable back home and had managed to make an appointment to meet the doctor a few months later. With the months of wait, Cicil had been trying to get his teaching degree renewed, wanting to contribute more than just at the household. He desperately wanted to work at the school again, to rediscover his love for learning and to hopefully teach one day, even if it wasn't the same as before the accident. He scribbled down another note before pausing in his research to attend to the breakfast he had started in the kitchen. He had gotten the hang of the daily routine pretty fast and had rediscovered his love for cooking in the past few weeks, even if he only trusted himself to make the very basics for now. He also learned Larson's schedule for blood and how to order new bags each week. It was akward at first to order a new shipment in and see the baseent cooler full of animal blood bags but he told himself that this was normal for them. What he had read in the books wasn't necessarily true, Vampires, at least ones like Larson didn't feed solely on human blood. At elast not anymore. And if they did, it often didn't end up in that person being turned, at least depending on the motive. He often times wondered if Larson had fed on him. He knew about his bite mark that had turned him immortal, but he hadn't seen any other evidenc eon his body that Larson had bitten him again to feed or for other intentions. He shook the thought from his mind, a light blush warming his cheeks at what the intentions could but he quickly returned his focus on the food, hummed softly to further distract him. Only a week before they saw Finn.
Lars mostly just watched Cici with a smirk as he started to doze off. It wasn't surprising that he was tired after everything he went through… but he stayed up long enough to finish the wine and ice cream before gently picking his husband up and carrying him back to bed. “Duerme bien, Querido. Volveré pronto.” he whispered, kissing his temple as he tucked him in.
Moving as quietly as possible, thanks to many years of practice, Lars snuck back out of the room only to clean up the dishes they left out and set the album on the table. He didn't reminisce on the pictures often but it was always nice when they looked through those books together.
———
As the months passed, Lars had to laugh over the number of times Cicil tried to wake him up in the mornings before reminding him that while he wasn't completely nocturnal, he still was a natural night owl which made mornings… difficult for him. But he was very relieved when they finally got ahold of Finn, once things had settled into more of a sense of normalcy, and scheduled the upcoming appointment. Would they get all of Cici’s memory back? Were there steps they had to take? Would they get answers about what happened? Why his memories disappeared in the first place? His mind had been buzzing with these kinds of questions… honestly since the accident, but getting in touch with Finn brought them back to the forefront of his thoughts.
Cicil plated up breakfast for himself and then one for Larson along with his regular smoothie of blood. Deciding to take a break from his research and still not used to being alone for so long during the day, Cicil migrated back to their bedroom. He carefully opened the door to not disturb his still-sleeping husband. Setting the plate and drink by the side table, Cicil retrieved his computer and his notes to study in the bedroom. he settled on his side of the bed, momentarily hypnotized by Larson beside him. He gently ran his fingers through his hair lovingly. "Mi Amore, breakfast is ready." He murmured softly, settling against the headboard and setting his computer on his lap to quietly work in Larson's sleepy company. Over the past few weeks along with his studies for his teaching degree, Cicil had done as much family history on himself and Larson as possible, delving into each decade and century they were alive and catching up on what had happened. He had read in his research on memory that reminding himself of his past could possibly trigger a memory. As much as Cicil hoped his memory would come back slowly even without prompting from Finn, deep down he knew that his memories weren't repressed, they were gone. His mind usually went blank when he tried to remember life events or details. He knew his childhood but once he tried to remember anything beyond meeting Larson, the fuzzier the memories became until they fizzled away into blank nothing. He sighed softly, pausing in his scribbling of notes to gaze at the pictures covering every inch of their walls, of the memories Cicil felt detached from as if it was someone else living his life. He glanced down at Larson, a brief smile crossing his features as he took in the sight of his sleeping husband.
They would find his memories, Cicil didn't know how but he would try, for Larson who deserved more than just a shell of what his husband used to be.
(so sorry for the wait! A little unmotivated to write for this one atm so responses will be a little delayed.)
(No worries. Take your time.)
Lars hummed softly at the gentle gesture, rousing at his darling husband’s voice and the smell of his drink. For these few sleep-addled moments he could almost convince himself that things were normal. That nothing had changed over the past few months… but that hardly ever worked because it had changed and there was no point in trying to deny it.
“Cici?” he mumbled as he slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes. He had cut back on his late-night gaming sessions in favor of helping or simply spending more time with Cicil right now but he still had a hard time waking up. “Good morning, sweetheart.” he yawned, smiling. “Still studying, I see. Need any help?”
Cicil's gaze found Larson's in the dimly lit bedroom "Good morning, amore." He greeted softly, offering an apologetic smile. "I didn't want you to miss out on breakfast and I wanted to take advantage of the few hours during the day you're awake." He explained sheepishly, half closing his laptop so the light wouldn't be a bother and setting that aside to attend to his half-awake husband. He shook his head and waved a lazy hand toward the notes scattered across the bed. "Just the same as last time, a combination of example curriculums combined with notes here and there about memories and different abilities. Nothing too interesting as of yet." He sighed softly and nodded towards the plate of food and Larson's smoothie, silently prompting him to eat while he returned to his studies, scooting closer so Larson could see as well. "We have a week left until we meet Finn and I still haven't found much about getting memories back or even how they can be lost in the first place. I mean there are explanations for dementia and natural memory loss but when I try to add in abnormal abilities, I hit a wall and can't find anything beyond some people possessing the ability to wipe a memory. Nothing much about how to retrieve them exactly."
Lars smiled softly, assuring that he didn't mind the wake-up call. He never really did. “As if I’d miss having breakfast with you.” he chuckled. “And I’m awake more than a few hours.” he added with a smirk, knowing that Cici was teasing. He nodded as his husband told him what he was studying and picked up his smoothie. “So, just reviewing again? I can quiz you if that would help.” he offered before raising a brow at the research on memory loss, angling himself to see the laptop screen better. “Well… despite everything, a lot of the public writes us off so there's not a whole lot of that kind of information out there for haters and critics to call us fakes when they don't know anything.” he admitted. “It's better than arguing facts with an idiot."
Cicil breathed a laugh and nodded "You are, and you have no idea how much I appreciate those extra hours I get to spend with you. But you also deserve rest, amore. Don't push yourself too much. I'll be alright." He reassured, setting the computer between them while he took a few moments to eat his breakfast and look over his notes again. "I would actually. Writing things down physically helps but I want to try other ways of remembering all this." Cicil soon returned to the computer, slowly clicking through articles and tabs he had saved to show Larson what he had found so far. "That would explain the negative bias on some of the pieces I've found." He muttered, annoyed that despite creatures like vampires and sirens and witches being around seemingly for centuries, they were still ostracized and critiqued for simply existing. He vaguely wondered what they had gone through in the past, being an immortal human and vampire couple. How did the rest of the world perceive them? Did people think Cicil a traitor to human kind for choosing immortality with the vampire he loved over his natural human existance? Did they hate vampires like Larson because they went against what they once thought normal? Cicil leaning in and pressed a kiss to larson's brow. "They don't know you like I do. I don't need my memories to know you're an amazing person now and before. I would still very much like them back though." He gave a small smile before zooming in on a paragraph and taking notes in a notebook beside him. Not necessarily on memory but rather an online newspaper column on the date Cicil had the accident. It only gave his identity but did mention the cars that were involved, and a number where anyone with information was to contact.
Lars chuckled again and kissed his husband’s cheek. “I'm getting enough rest, don’t worry. I’m not pushing myself any more than normal.” he assured even though he hadn’t really been one to keep track of his sleep. “Alright. After breakfast then.” he nodded, willing and happy to be able to help Cicil with his studies… again. It had been a while since the last time they had done something like this but it wasn’t exactly new territory for them.
“Don’t let them bother you, mi vida. Some people just enjoy stirring up trouble with online fights. You know; online trolls, imps…” he said with just a hint of annoyance. But his expression softened at the kiss. “No one knows me like you do, darling.” he whispered lovingly before noticing the article Cici was reading. “I forgot… did I tell you about changing the “.com” to “.mythos”, “.magi” or “.fey” for more accurate information? There might be something there on… unusual memory loss.”
Cicil glanced skeptically at his husband, taking in the shadows around his eyes though Cicil couldn't say if they were from lack of sleep or a vampiric trait. "I appreciate it, amore. Gracias." He replied, not only for his help with the studying but for his patience and optimism despite their unfortunate situation. He gently squeezed Larson's hand before refocusing on his computer, scrolling through the article for anything else he might have missed. "Perhaps, but it's unhelpful. not only just to our research but to society as a whole. You would have thought that after so many years of coinciding, humans and other creatures would learn to live peacefully amongst each other." He returned to the main search bar and replaced the .com with .mythos, hoping to find any history of memory loss even if it was only legends or stories. Despite the slightly tacky-looking website page, at first glance, the website titles did show some promise of new information without the hassle of biased forums and rants. "This actually does help, thank you."
"I'll try to get more sleep, but some of this is from video games, which is normal for me." he reminded, gesturing to his face as he noticed the look in Cicil's eyes. “More than happy to help.” Lars assured with a sincere smile before turning the gentle gesture and leaning his head against his husband's shoulder. However, his initial desire to cuddle faded somewhat at his words about how some humans still disrupted the opinions towards those like himself. "Cici… Do you remember the history lessons about how long it took racial segregation in America to stop being so severe?" he asked gently. "It's pretty similar for us, except we can be anyone so it's harder for people to know who and what we are. Therefore it's harder for them to accept us." he explained, knowing that not all segregation was equal or completely gone even now.
He managed a soft chuckle at the way the site hadn't changed its design and shook his head. "Good. Humans are probably the most tech-savvy since they came up with the internet but we did our best to have our own version." he admitted. "A lot more fact and direct contact with others."
Cicil pressed a kiss to Larson's hair, but a frown still tugged at his lips. While he didn't remember all the details, history was something hard to forget, even with Cicil's limited working memory. He remembered the beginnings of issues arising in Barcelona when Vampires and creatures came from neighboring countries and how scared some people were for their future and that of their children but Cicil had never understood their concern. At least not in the same capacity some people were overanalyzing the new change. He had seen both sides of the situation. Humans were afraid of what a new wave of creatures would bring to their peaceful town, and creatures just looking to make a living somewhere new, and supposedly safe. Everyone was just trying to survive. "Just because it's happened before, and it may be happening again, still doesn't make it right." He muttered softly, not wanting to start an argument but still having a hard time accepting that despite such a long time in this world, humanity could still be the same. He stared at the little cartoony mouse on the screen, waiting for him to make a choice. He vaguely wondered if he was as passionate about the controversies between creatures and humans in his teachings as he was now. If not, he was determined to somehow add that to his curriculum.
"That'll help," Cicil replied, his husband's laugh rousing him from his thoughts. He sighed softly with a small smile and chose the first link.
“Believe me, amore, I know it doesn't.” Lars nodded, smiling briefly at the kiss before continuing. “The comparison was not an excuse for that behavior and, call me a dreamer, I hope that one day no one has to go through that kind of treatment.” he confessed softly.
He kissed Cicil’s cheek as he navigated the website and gave a loving smile. “I hope it does help.” he said as he gathered up the dirty dishes from breakfast and got up to take them to the kitchen.
"That would be nice, if everyone got along one day. Until that happens I'm glad at least that we were able to find each other amongst all the other people and stay together for so long." Cicil replied softly, a small smile gracing his features as he paused in his research to look up at his husband, appreciating his optimism greatly.
"Gracias, amor. For everything." He reached up and squeezed Larson's hand for a moment before letting him tend to the dishes. Cicil curled up in bed with his notebook in his lap and got to reading over the countless articles, determined to find something of substance to help recover his memories.
(I'm so sorry about the late reply, honestly not all that motivated to write for this rp as of late so I might put this one on pause for now.)
(It's ok. I appreciate the honesty and not straight ghosting me. If or when you want to pick this one back up, just let me know.)
"So am I, always." Lars agreed, meeting Cici's gaze lovingly. "I won't trade a single day with you for anything." he admitted before, not only realizing how cheesy that sounded… even though it was true, remembering his husband's condition. His mind raced to come up with a way to clarify or rephrase it so that Cicil wouldn't feel bad for something that wasn't his fault … but couldn't think of anything.
He smiled softly at the affectionate gesture, returning it briefly before bringing his hand up for a kiss. "For you, my darling, anything." he winked, picking up the rest of the dishes and heading out. "I'll be back soon. Call me if you need me."
