Robert tries to move on, or rather someone else makes him. Chase returns home (maybe from a trip to regain his stolen youth) and finds Robert languishing away alone in his home. So like the good brother he is Chase forces him to go into town to socialize.
Robert doesn’t want Chase to worry so he doesn’t put up much of a fight. The hours he used to spend staring out at the sea are now spent in the company of his brother and others.
Flambae is pissed, he’s barely seen Robert for the past few weeks. He keeps leaving to go god knows where. He can’t go inland without taking off his seal skin. He’s still twitchy about taking it off, let alone letting it out of his sight.
Why couldn’t Robert just stay put? Doesn’t he know it’s safer here where Flambae can watch him? He can’t trust other humans to not hurt his- hurt Robert. That loud older human was the one to start dragging Robert away. He needs to tell Robert to stop.
A minute after bidding Chase goodbye, someone pounds on the door. Robert thinking it was Chase coming back opens it only to find Flambae towering over him. Robert’s cornered in his own house while Flambae demands he stops going inland.
Chad just can't help himself. He can't stop resurfacing to watch Robert. He hates him. He does. Yet he can't stop this gnawing curiosity, this hunger to keep Robert in his sights.
It's practically obsessive, even though he stays very safely in the water, just out of reach. He doesn't take off his seal coat, just watches and watches right above the surface of the water as Robert meets up with an older man, laughing merrily and clapping each other on the back.
Who the fuck is that? Why does Robert look so happy?
Chad can't help but growl low in his throat at the thought that Robert had stolen his coat, forced him to be with him, and yet has never made an expression as happy as that before. Isn't that unfair?
Then soon enough, Robert starts leaving his house more often. He keeps meeting with people, keeps leaving for long periods of time. Chad can't help the tight knots in his gut each time Robert leaves his line of sight, too far inland for him to reach. He starts swimming laps just to ease his anxiety, waiting for Robert to return.
He can't. He can't take his coat off. What if it gets stolen again? What if he's forced to stay on land again?
But Robert hasn't been back for two days now.
His gums itch and that coil in his stomach won't go away.
His mind goes blank when he sees Robert finally approaching his home in the early hours of the morning, the sky still dark and barely tinted pink.
Chad's body moves before he can really decide. Before he knows it, he's shed his coat and stands in front of Robert's door as a man, something he'd promised he'd never do again.
He knocks before he can stop himself, the door clicking open, and—there they are.
Those doe brown eyes staring back at him, widening just a fraction when recognition settles in.
"Why," Chad seethes out, the words tumbling from his mouth too fast to stop. "Why do you keep disappearing?"
Robert blinks, taken aback. His cheeks redden, then pale. "Huh?"
"You," Chad scowls, taking a step forward and preening when Robert takes a step back, allowing him into his home. "You keep disappearing. Stop that."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Robert huffs softly. "I'm not disappearing."
"You are!" Chad shoots back, throwing his arms up as anger licks across his drying skin. "You keep leaving, you keep meeting with people—"
"You were watching?" Robert asks quietly, confused and perhaps too pleased by that. "Why?"
Chad snaps his mouth shut.
Robert blinks at him, too innocent and too knowing all at once. He takes a step forward. Chad steps back.
"Did you miss me?" Robert asks, a low purr much too pleased with himself.
"No." Chad's chest heaves, his breath hitching. "As if."
"I missed you." Robert presses even closer, blinking so slowly at him with those infuriatingly soft eyes. "I can't stop thinking about you. I shouldn't have given the coat back—" Chad bristles. "I keep regretting it. But I know I couldn't keep you here against your will. I'm sorry."
Robert's gaze drops, ashamed and guilty.
Chad suppresses the urge to run his knuckles down the soft skin of his cheeks. "Just...stop disappearing, got it?"
"No." Robert answers, taking a step back now, the space suddenly too much for Chad. "I will not promise you that. I don't have to answer to you."
"You—" Chad scowls, a growl in his throat. "Why not?"
"I don't want to be alone." Robert admits lowly. "If you won't stay, then I need to find others who will."
It's a trap. Alarms blare in his mind, but Chad's traitorous mouth speaks anyway, "And if I stay will you stop disappearing?"
The corners of Robert's eyes crinkle. "Yes."
It's a trap, it's a trap, it's a trap. "...Then I'll stay, but only if I get to keep my coat. I will stay with you during the day, and return to sea at night."
Robert's face twists, a complicated expression. He takes a beat to answer, and when he does, his words come out slow. "...Okay. I can live with that."
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