Eff shot a glance at D-boy; humour coming from him was rare, even more so given the current situation.

"I've done my part," Eff answered nonchalantly. "Besides, it's your fault that we're here in the first place, you fix it."

"Fuck you, Eff! Why do you always have to ruin everything?"

"I ruin everything? Isn't this mess entirely your fault? I was trying to fix things for us Before, but you fucked that up. I can't see how you can accuse anyone of ruining anything."

he's lying to me

how dare he fucking lie to me- after all that shit about being honest he fed me.

he didn't want to fix it for us; he just wanted to get his own way

get what he wanted

i wont be naive again. not after...

"I know you're lying, Fuck. It's pathetic how far you'll go to try and manipulate me. Whatever control you had Before has been lost and now you're desperate to get some of it back, using me in the process. Well holes in that Eff, I control me. I wont ever let anyone use me how our Master did. This isn't my fault, we both know it isn't. I didn't want this. But blaming me is much easier to do, isn't it? It's just another excuse to go on hating me."

D-boy stood shaking with rage. At least that was something he could actually feel, as opposed to a memory of an emotion. But feeling anything was another painful reminder he hadn't stopped Being, even if this factor had been forgotten in the heat of the argument.

"Quite finished?" D-boy opened his mouth to retaliate, but Eff interrupted before he had the chance. "Once again, D-boy, you're only half right. I did want control Before, I longed to do what I wanted. I wanted to be free, make toast whenever I wanted! But I don't want to control you. I know what it feels like just as much as you do, and slavery is something I wouldn't wish on anyone. Not even you. I'm through with being controlled."

The anger dissolved into the surrounding nothingness with surprising ease.

To them, anger just didn't do that, had never done that. Blind fury at each other had often bubbled underneath the surface for days after an exceptionally fierce argument. It couldn't have been healthy, but that defied the point of being destructive. When infrequent moments of contemplation were available, D-boy often wondered if the negativity was rotting his insides. He imagined it to resemble sticky black tar, infecting his Styrofoam body, coursing through non-existent veins. It was in his system. It was a disease, and it had developed past any chance of curing it. That is, if there was a cure. Other times, when depression accompanied these thoughts, D-boy considered ways to let the pollution out, drain it all away. But then, that would mean being hollow inside, openly inviting things potentially worse to inhabit the empty space. This lead D-boy to the conclusion that he was better off this way, and as far as he was concerned, the depression encouraged the essential sickness.

I'm sick

Eff was humming.

Had it even occurred to him that the argument was over before it had begun? It seemed unlikely he was that attentive. But for D-boy, it was all too obvious. True, they didn't always argue, but in a situation like this, it was almost expected of them.

"We aren't so different, you know? You and me."

D-boy snapped out of his trance.

What made him come out with that?

"After you strip away all the layers and masks and shit and lies...we aren't so different."

I'm not the same as him

the thought of such a thing...

this..

must be...

a way of undermining me

"Think about it. We know each other more than anyone else does, we've been through exactly the same. I understand you more than you understand yourself. This isn't something to be used against you D-boy, it's just an observation." Eff pulled a face which bordered on being serious, something that didn't exactly look appropriate for his personality.

D-boy's expression was dubious, raising a painted eyebrow at the other, who had started humming again- off-key by the sound of it. It was only natural to feel suspicious, Eff was never so observant. But his abnormal behaviour caused him to again consider if what Eff had said previously held truth in it after all. Was their Master's control over them really diminishing? He barely had any control over the other Before, explaining why Eff's change in personality was more pronounced, and D-boy was almost exactly the same down to his unbreakable devotion. Was this hope? Being hopeful wasn't something D-boy was accustomed to though, and refused to fully believe it until there was substantial evidence to either prove or disprove the current theory. Being hopeful only meant a greater sense of disappointment when it all went wrong, he had learnt that long ago. The most recurring feeling of hope was whenever Nny had felt depressed, and there was a chance he'd finally do away with himself. Only Nailbunny or Mr. Eff would talk him out of it, each for their separate reasons. Nailbunny, being the Voice of Sanity wanted to truly help Nny, while Eff, the selfish fuck, just needed him alive that bit longer to become Real.

D-boy half smiled, but he wasn't happy.

"I'll never understand you."

The statement was so quiet it was barely more than a sigh.

"Can I ask why?" It was surprising Eff had actually heard it over his incessant humming. To anyone else, it would have appeared Eff was only vaguely interested, his whole being playing up to that belief. D-boy knew otherwise; anything even remotely close to personal information was precious ammunition for future arguments. But to trust Eff to not use it against him? Reveal his own weaknesses? It was practically suicidal.

D-boy snickered mentally.

"Every time I think I've figured you out, you'll surprise me with something new. Then I realise I'm right back at the beginning again."

A satisfied smirk was plastered across Eff's face.

I know he does it on purpose

so I can't tell what he's going to do

unpredictable.

he can read me like a book. I don't change.


I'm far too stubborn.

"Well I am supposed to be the manic side of things." Eff remarked, that ridiculous grin firmly stuck on his face.

"We aren't the same, Eff. We'll never be the same."

"I know."

"But you said- "

"I said we were similar. We could never be the same." It felt as if there were more weight to those words than Eff wanted to reveal. Or he even realised.

D-boy let out a long sigh for no particular reason. Forever suddenly seemed too long to stay in the Void. He didn't want to be here, this was so close to not existing, but equally as close to existing. It was tormenting, and the whole place was just mocking him. It was holding his desire right in front of him, just out of reach, and there was no way to ever get closer to it.

"How did you..." find me?

"Find you?"

Did I say it out loud? Nevertheless, D-boy answered him with a nod.

"I'll always find you. Always. We're drawn to each other because we once shared the same existence. We were meant to be together D-boy, we can't function without each other."

Two halves of a whole.

"You aren't...lying to me?"

"I told you before; lying here wouldn't get me anywhere."

I still can't trust him

not until I know for certain.

"I'll always find you."

...

...

"Always."

"But we hate each other, how can we possibly need someone so destructive? I know I need my own destruction but that's different."

"I don't hate you, Psycho."

"I knew you were lying. As naive as I am, there's only so much shit you can get me to believe."

i knew it. i knew it i knew it.

fuck, i almost believed everything he said

he nearly had me

i know what he's doing.

He's saying what i want to hear.

I want to believe him, I want -need- what he says to be true. This really would be so much easier if we didn't lie to each other. I can see the changes in myself now. Before, I would have never even considered believing Eff, I automatically took whatever he told me to be some form of manipulation. But now...now...I actively want to believe whatever he tells me. I need it. Reassurance. Answers.

"Why couldn't you..." D-boy stared into the distant Void, refusing to look at the other. "...Why couldn't you just let me believe you? I need this Eff. Even if it is all just lies and ulterior motives, it's something."

Eff frowned, although it wasn't down to anger or irritation.

"I meant it D-boy, I don't hate you. The more our Master's control on us weakens, the more I'm beginning to feel indifferent about you."

Something crawled inside D-boy, and he felt sickeningly hollow. Even for a piece of Styrofoam.

Indifferent?

Fucking indifferent!?

That's worse than hate. At least hate was something I could understand. I knew how to deal with that. It's been there since our creation.

I don't know of anything different that could exist between us.

D-boy strode over towards the other, purposefully. "Then I'll make you hate me all over again. I wont let you do this to me Eff."

The other stood his ground, and clenched his fists in frustration, "You're so narrow-minded, have you even considered the opposite solution? That we could actually like each other?"

"Of course I fucking haven't! We're meant to hate each other! Created for that very purpose. I- You- You're the only constant I've ever had- and I've got no intention of letting that go!"

Shit. Fucking shit! I didn't mean to say that. Not out loud.

Eff stood for a moment, the words chasing themselves around like an echo. An odd expression formed on his face; it was a mixture of perplexed amusement, and what could only be described as fear. It was understandable though, intimacy and concern for one another was something unheard of between them. D-boy wasn't sure which was worse as a reaction to his outburst.

"I didn't mean-"

"Don't talk to me." Eff's voice was flat and lacked any hint of what was going through his mind.

D-boy had knocked him off his guard, but it was so unlike Eff, it was frightening. He reached towards the other with a hand gloved with black paint, in an attempt to perhaps poke him back to his normal self.

"Eff, I-"

"Don't touch me," Eff hissed, and recoiled from D-boy's outstretched hand. They had both voiced that phrase now, and it conjured up the recent memory of Eff's statement about them being similar. However, although D-boy didn't mind contact and had said it simply out of rage, Eff despised any touch whatsoever. The older of the two was unsure why, but perhaps Eff saw it as his way of becoming hollow, compared to D-boy's method of losing his identity. Being empty was something they both feared, but for entirely different reasons.

Eff believed that feeling was closely linked to being Real, as all Real things feel. But if he was hollow inside, he would not be fully Real. D-boy's fear of emptiness stemmed from the fact that an empty existence would be far worse than a full one. It was neither one nor the other, just a cruel midpoint, much like the Void he was currently in.

Had D-boy been the sort to apologise, his chance to do so had arrived and passed, without him even considering doing such a thing.

"I do hope you two are enjoying yourselves. From the looks on your faces though, I presume you aren't."

Both pastry display stands whipped round and followed the voice's direction to locate its owner.

Eff was the first to do so and his eyes widened with bewilderment.