Chapter Text
The past few months blurred together in a haze of misery and sorrow. 007n7 could really only remember the day it all started.
He had come home from work with a present. Due to his reputation, he could only get low-level jobs that demanded long hours from him but only gave him a few hundred robux in compensation for his work. It had been humbling at first, but his drive to reform from exploiting kept him going. That, and his son.
C00lkidd was not biologically his, but he was close. 007n7 had found the baby on his doorstep one fateful day, crying his little heart out, and the then exploiter took him in. 007n7 didn't know it then, but c00lkidd wasn't the only one to be saved that day.
C00lkidd gave him a purpose outside of exploiting, a sense of fulfillment that was more gratifying than any high causing mischief gave him. C00lkidd gave 007n7 the strength to quit and change for the better. But then he disappeared.
007n7 had opened the door, careful to not drop the box in his hands. C00lkidd would normally greet him at the door, happy to see his dad back, but 007n7 entered an empty foyer without even the patter of feet telling him that the kid was on his way.
"I'm home!" 007n7 had called out, believing c00lkidd was asleep or preoccupied. But there was no answer and while he told himself that c00lkidd was definitely just sleeping, a nagging anxiety told him to check. He told himself he was just being dramatic but then he had opened the door to c00lkidd's empty room with no one in sight. The bed was untouched. So then 007n7 scoured the rest of the house, calling out for his little boy, but there was nothing. C00lkidd was gone.
They lived in an extremely safe neighborhood, especially since 007n7 had quit exploiting. The thought of someone breaking in and kidnapping c00lkidd was hard to wrap his mind around, but he was missing and what other explanation was there? He considered the possibility of c00lkidd going out on his own, but he asked around and no one had seen the kid, and with his unusual and bright appearance that made him stick out like a sore thumb in a crowd of Robloxians, it was hard to believe he could've snuck out without being seen at all. And 007n7 couldn't imagine c00lkidd leaving on his own. But he had to keep his mind open-- every possible explanation, no matter how slim the possibilities, were potential leads, and 007n7 was desperate for anything.
And this one fact still stood: something happened. Something took his son away.
And 007n7 was going to find out what. Even as guilt ate a little piece of him every night he slept in a house that only sheltered him, every time he scraped together a meal only meant for him. He searched the neighborhood and more diligently everyday, but not knowing if his son was okay and safe and warm and loved was killing him.
And maybe that was why 007n7 could hardly function with his precious baby gone. He gradually stopped eating, eventually stopped taking care of himself. He moved around on autopilot, with only one thing on his mind: finding c00lkidd.
And then Elliot came into the picture like a saint or a blessing from Telamon Himself. 007n7 was lucky to even be on friendly terms with the man after everything he'd done to him, but when Elliot learned of c00lkidd's disappearance, he had come to check on 007n7 personally.
The house had been a mess and 007n7 must have looked like a ghost. But Elliot nursed him back to health and aided him in looking for c00lkidd. He was always so patient and sweet, visiting and staying over so often that he was practically a roommate, and he would take care of household chores and meals as he urged 007n7 to rest after another unsuccessful search for c00lkidd.
And this night was one of those nights.
007n7 slammed the door open as he trudged inside before slumping onto the couch, frustration seething beneath his skin. Somewhere along the way, a portion of his grief had morphed into a terrible, all consuming anger. While the sorrow was still there, the rage would easily burn through it like flames engulfing paper. And it really didn't help that he always felt sore nowadays.
007n7 had been waking up with his legs aching and back hurting like hell for the past two months, as if he'd been stretching or working out in his sleep. And when he got up, his knees would often give out, suddenly sapped of all their strength despite how much he rested. It was hindering his movement and his searches by extension, so he confided in Elliot about his troubles. But he had brushed it off to be a sign that 007n7 simply needed more sleep.
And 007n7 had been getting more sleep. He had been going to sleep much earlier than usual, typically soon after dinner, and he wouldn't wake until past noon. It was all very odd, but if Elliot wasn't worried, he wasn't going to worry about it either, especially when there were more things worth worrying about instead.
"Did you find anything?" Elliot emerged from around the corner. He leaned against the door frame that opened into the living room.
"Nothing," 007n7 sighed, sinking further into the couch.
Elliot murmured a quiet oh. "Well, I made dinner. You must be hungry; you were out for hours."
And 007n7 was hungry. His stomach rumbled at the mention of food, and he painstakingly hoisted himself up from the couch.
"Shit--" he stumbled before catching himself on the end table. His back was protesting against him, pangs of agony shooting down his spine.
"Sev!" Elliot exclaimed, rushing over to help. "Is it the pains again?"
007n7 rubbed the small of his back, grimacing as it responded with a dull ache. "Yeah. I guess I'm really getting old, huh."
Elliot's frown faltered with a hint of mirth. "You're not that old."
"Yet," 007n7 added with a chuckle. He began the trek to the dinning room with Elliot helping him. It was almost humiliating, but the other man had a comforting kind of air to him that made normally embarrassing things feel perfectly normal. It was a rare quality that 007n7 appreciated in his good friend.
Soon, they made it to the table, and 007n7 settled down on a chair. Elliot disappeared into the kitchen before returning with a plate of pizza and garlic knots which he set on the table. As always, the meal smelled amazing, but 007n7's chest ached.
"I'm such a fucking idiot -- I shouldn't have left him alone--"
"Hey now, we've been over this," Elliot soothed, rubbing gentle circles into 007n7's back and shoulders. "You couldn't have known this would happen. We'll find him, I promise."
That sentiment had once been easy to believe in, but a few months ago had marked the one year anniversary of c00lkidd's disappearance. 007n7's hope had been dwindling as police hadn't been able to find any clues of the kid's whereabouts even with the help of a few moderators and admins. Sometimes, late at night, he would consider putting the memory of c00lkidd to rest, but the notion would pass as quickly as it came. No, 007n7 would never give up on his son. He would wear himself thin and dry searching and hoping for c00lkidd's return before he resigned himself to a funeral without a body to bury.
"I want him back now," 007n7 whispered as tears rolled down his face. Elliot wiped them away with gentle thumbs.
"For now, just eat," he murmured. "Tomorrow is another day."
007n7 sniffed away his tears before digging in.
Dinner was as amazing as it smelled -- Elliot was truly a talented cook. 007n7 downed his last bite with a large gulp of water Elliot provided him, feeling full and warm, before they began to chat.
They talked about old times, current times, plans for the future. 007n7 really tried his hardest to pay attention, but it was like he could only hear snippets of Elliot's speech. With every blink, his eyelids would close for longer than the last one, and he felt his head nodding up and down as he fought off sleep.
"Sev?"
007n7's head snapped back up, but his eyelids felt too heavy to open fully. He tried to focus on what Elliot was saying, but every word mixed together into an incoherent jumble of sound as his mind was quickly dissipating into fog. It was strange, how tired he had been for the past two months when just the thought of c00lkidd used to be enough to wake him up, and he'd always chalked it up to an effect of the toll of the kid's disappearance on him finally making itself known after a whole year, or even his age catching up to him, but it always felt like something was off.
But Elliot was here with him so how wrong could it really be?
007n7 got up. He should be going to bed now. "I... think I'm..."
"Hm?" Elliot hummed, softening in concern. He was always so gentle, so lovely, so kind. He got up as well. "Are you..." but the rest of his sentence was lost in the fog of 007n7's consciousness. He swayed on his feet, felt himself collapsing into Elliot's embrace, and the world faded away.