The unique thing about Cale Henituse really had to be his ability to bounce back.

He simply wasn't capable of wallowing in self pity for an extended period of time. He'd make poor decisions, suffer the consequences of long term depression, and spiral into angry fits of frustration but he just couldn't stay in that state of mind.

For starters, it annoyed him.

There was only so long he could live the drama queen life before he got too annoyed with himself to tolerate it for even a second longer.

Okay. His life had been torn apart. And okay. He might never get it back. And okay. It had broken him to learn all of that.

So what the fuck was moping going to do for him? Would that bring his life back? Improve his situation? Improve the situation for any of the people he cared about?

Oh, he could certainly mope like a diva and he would upon being given the motivation and opportunity. But his stubborn streak wasn't just an external matter. He didn't just carefully regulate his entire persona in order to fool the masses, he was such a control freak that he needed to keep tight control over his own internal emotions.

Some people might say that was part of the reason he was so deeply emotionally damaged but they could take their fancy fucking doctorates in psychology and stuff it up their asses because Cale needed to cope somehow.

Cale was holding on by a thread and that thread was his iron will.

"Alright."

He looked up to the ceiling of the inn. Yesterday he'd allowed himself to lose his shit and he'd lost it.

"What now?"

The ceiling offered no answers. It rarely did.

Cale normally found his answers looking at the ground.

"You're more composed than this."

He really was. The unique nature of the situation had caused him to regress into an impulsivity that wasn't normal for him.

"Maybe I'm horny."

He always got a bit more agitated when he wasn't able to find satisfaction. Either way, it was still strange for him to spend this long with this little control.

He was all about acting like he was a basketcase, or at least he used to be, it was a whole different matter to be legitimately going insane.

"Fuck this."

How many times had he said that since he'd entered this dumbass fucking fantasy? And then how many times had the fantasy world kicked him so far in the nuts. He'd just regained his self-confidence in these uneasy times when his siblings were kidnapped. He'd just settled into his quest when he spotted his not-fiance.

"How unexpectedly stupid."

Talking to himself grounded himself in the moment. Allowed him to parse his useful thoughts from his useless pondering. Or maybe he just liked it.

Didn't really matter. If anyone had a problem with it, he'd tell them exactly where they could stick it.

"This is pathetic."

And Cale had quit pathetic cold turkey along with all of his other addictions, like wallowing in pity and self-destructive behavior.

So he'd relapsed. Relapses happened. The important step was what you did next.

While all of his reasons for wanting to meet the crown prince rang hollow now as they were all just excuses in hopes that Alberu would magic everything better with his dick or something, Cale had come up with a few very good and valid reasons to meet with Alberu.

Dealing with his family's situation was high up on his priorities and a person with his power and authority would be able to punish the bastards hiding behind hired assassins.

Besides, regardless of whether they were fucking or not, Cale did generally appreciate Alberu's intellect and problem solving skills.

"Alright."

Cale sat up and smirked.

No matter how hard this bullshit fantasy world tried to pull him back to his worst self, he wasn't that person anymore. With or without his fiance, he wasn't the sort of pathetic bastard who needed anyone else to succeed in what he'd set his mind to.

It wasn't hard to sneak out of the inn, even with all of the guards and servants that made up his entourage. For starters, none of them expected him to try. And most importantly, Ron was still gone on his whatever-errand.

Cale had never once been able to successfully sneak past Ron Molan. The old man was terrifyingly perceptive. Although most of the time, Ron would just greet him as he left. Making a point to show Cale that he knew that he was sneaking out and that he was only able to sneak out with Ron's approval.

In a strange way it had comforted Cale when he was a teen. There was at least one person in the household watching over him, even if it was in a vaguely menacing way.

His current protectors didn't offer any such comfort as Cale slipped away, walking down the crowded streets of Puzzle City without a particular destination in mind.

With any luck the prince would still be in town. He could forge connections then.

But he wasn't escaping the safety of his inn for just that.

He needed to acclimate himself.

Some part of him had refused to accept this bizarreness as reality. And Cale's normal policy of rolling with the punches required him to actually acknowledge the reality of the blow.

True. This could all just be a hyper realistic coma dream. But he needed to stop thinking it would all go away when he woke up. Otherwise he'd keep getting shocked into paralysis by simple grazing blows.

The sun felt real and so did the breeze and the kid who attempted to pickpocket him only to learn he had nothing on him was also quite real.

Cale smirked bitterly to himself.

He was sure he had acquaintances who would have taken to this transition without even a misstep. Of course, he doubted they would wake up in an alley covered in someone else's piss. That usually soured anyone's impression.

Huh.

Maybe not everyone up there hated him.

Cale followed after the familiar figure he spotted out of the corner of his eye, whistling to himself as he went.

He wasn't expecting a knife to be pressed against his throat for his trouble.

"Been a fucking hot minute since this last happened..." Cale grumbled to himself.

–

"Question."

Alberu looked up from where he'd been vacuuming the living room and towards Cale, who had made himself quite comfortable lounging on the couch and flipping through the channels on TV. For a man from a more medieval setting, he'd certainly taken to modern day technology without much surprise.

"What is it?"

"What are the chances that my other self will try to fuck your other self?" Cale asked, continuing his journey through the channels, stopping to frown at a cooking program.

Alberu gawked at him. He should be used to Cale's unique brand of crude bluntness by now but somehow the guy always managed to find a way to crawl under his skin.

"...wouldn't you know better than I would? He's you." Alberu pointed out, at a loss for what else to say.

Alberu felt a sudden insecurity inside of him. While technically speaking it wouldn't be cheating. No more than how Alberu had been treating Cale like his fiance up until now, at the very least.

But he didn't like the idea.

"...would he?" He asked, a touch insecure as to why Cale was asking.

"It'd depend." Cale said, popping another chocolate into his mouth in a gesture that was far too similar to the Cale he knew. It was moments like these when the resemblance truly was undeniable. "How's he emotionally?"

"...stable?" Alberu said. "He has his bad days but mostly he's happy."

"Hm... that's bad then." Cale said, flipping the channel again as though it was someone else's problem.

"...because?" Alberu set aside the vacuum, accepting the conversation he'd been dragged into and turning the TV off to engage with it.

Cale looked him up and down before sitting up with a sigh. "I still don't fucking get that guy but if he's as similar to me as you say, then he's worked really fucking hard to get what he has. Now he's in my shitty life without anything to call his own."

The weight of the sentiment hit Alberu and he sighed, sitting down as he contemplated what Cale was getting at. "Ah."

Hedonism.

It was Cale's absolute weakness when he was at his worst.

It wasn't to say he actually did what he really wanted to do but his impulse control went to shit and he'd fall back onto his worst habits.

While promiscuous sex wasn't necessarily on his list of vices, at least not since he'd met Alberu, Cale was also faced with the same hopelessness Alberu was faced with.

Would he ever be able to come home? Was it better to just build a home here?

He'd want to self-destruct or to feel good now. Probably a disastrous combination of both.

Alberu's shoulders slumped a little. He'd been worried about Cale since the beginning of this but it hadn't truly hit him just how hard this would be on him emotionally.

If he could, he would comfort him. He hoped that he'd be able to in the future.

"I still think it's a toss up though." Cale said mildly, popping another chocolate in his mouth.

Alberu looked back to him with a thoughtful frown. "Why's that?"

Cale looked just a touch embarrassed as he shrugged. "Do I fucking look like a goddamn cheater?"

Alberu chuckled. Yeah. Cale's fidelity was unquestionable. It wasn't a conversation they'd even entertain if there wasn't an alternate Alberu.

That was something to consider though.

"...uh... what's... what's the other me like?" Alberu asked, it was awkward but he'd like to know.

Cale shrugged. "Never met the fucker in person. I heard he's affable? Well, more like he's a glib piece of shit who knows what to say to get what he wants. Gotta be ambitious, he has no maternal family to support him but he still rose up to crown prince." Cale gave Alberu a thoughtful look. "Hard to imagine him as you if I'm honest. I always figured the crown prince was a bastard."

"...why?" It was sure to be a reason that would give Alberu a headache but he couldn't help but want to know why Cale, any Cale, would have a poor impression of him.

"He focuses all his fucking time on suppressing his brothers to get power." Cale said as if it was obvious. "Seems pretty shitty to me."

He ought to have known.

Cale was Cale, no matter what. For him, family was important and needed to be raised up.

Alberu's strained relationship with his family hadn't rubbed his Cale the right way either.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "That sounds about right. I don't get along with my brothers either."

Cale frowned at him. "That's annoying."

"Every family is different." Alberu said without taking offense.

Cale sighed, dropping it. "You're right. I still think the crown prince sounds like an obnoxious snob though."

Alberu laughed.

"You're an obnoxious snob." Cale said, pouting up at Alberu with all of the rage-filled intensity of a pomeranian after a bath.

"And you drive me absolutely crazy." Alberu said in return, kissing the pout from his lips.

It was painful sometimes just how similar the Cale's were.

Alberu stood up and walked back to his vacuum, leaving the conversation there.

He didn't like the idea of his Cale and the crown prince but he really didn't have a pedestal to judge from after the number of times he'd professed his love to this Cale.

They'd talk it out when Cale returned.

His grip on the vacuum was a bit tighter than necessary as he worked.

...please let his Cale return to him.

It wasn't that the Cale currently consuming all the chocolate in the apartment wasn't a loveable bastard. It wasn't that he couldn't survive without Cale.

But he missed him like aching. Missed their conversations. He wanted to talk about all the crazy shit that happened and hear about all the crazy shit Cale had endured. He wanted to hold him and tell him everything would be okay.

He wanted his Cale.