Vinnie didn't like being in this dimension. He didn't know how things worked. It had been far too long since he had interacted properly with people aside from Balthazar, and now it felt like such a foreign concept to him.
Vinnie knew that Bob and Mr. Block wanted to get information from him, but they didn't push. Cavendish didn't let them. Vinnie was instead allowed to leave the headquarters and walk around outside, just as long as Cavendish was right at his side. Vinnie wouldn't have it any other way. If he couldn't be with Balthy, at least he was with Cav.
Being able to walk outside so easily was an experience that he had missed a lot. Nobody that they passed even glanced their way, because they didn't know who Cavendish was and they didn't hate him. Cavendish himself was also a lot more relaxed than Balthazar had been in a long time. Vinnie loved his Balthazar, and he wouldn't give him up for anything, but it was bittersweet sometimes to think about how much his partner had given up.
Cavendish was just the way that Balthazar used to be. Ambitious and underappreciated, but he was still able to relax. Cavendish was colder and more grumpy, but Vinnie couldn't help but find it a little funny. He felt a little bad about it, but in the past he'd always found Cavendish's tense state to be just a little funny, and one of his biggest sources of fun was to try to get him to relax.
Those games didn't work anymore with Balthazar, because he worried and stressed about things that were a lot more serious than what had once bothered him. It was only fair to make a game out of it when his stress was for no good reason and they both knew it.
Seeing Cavendish acting more at ease and oblivious, it felt like a weight off of Vinnie's shoulder's. He instinctively relaxed in kind.
He knew this wasn't his world. Sooner rather than later he would have to return home, back with his Balthazar, and that was how he wanted it to be, but that didn't mean that he couldn't enjoy this while it lasted.
Cavendish somehow found a pair of sunglasses for Vinnie to borrow until they got back to their old office apartment and got his spares. Vinnie wasn't used to needing to rely on his sunglasses. Cav was more than ready to step up and take care of him when he couldn't take care of himself. In that way he was like the Balthazar that he knew, but it was different from the Cavendish that Dakota had talked about.
Vinnie knew himself. He didn't think he went digging for negative things. He didn't feel the need to be a thankless martyr. He really didn't think that Dakota would look past all of Cavendish's kindness and only see every little moment of his unintentional cruelty. And Cavendish had apologized to Vinnie, thinking he was Dakota. Cav wouldn't apologize if he hadn't done anything at all.
When they got to their apartment Vinnie put on his regular pair of sunglasses, taking comfort from the familiarity.
"Where are your own glasses?" Cavendish asked.
"Balthy has them." Vinnie said. "The weight on my head feels wrong, somehow. He keeps the lights dimmed all the time for me, so I don't really need it."
Cavendish frowned thoughtfully. "Your partner gives a lot for you."
"He'd do anything for me." Vinnie said with a small smile.
"Yes, I'd gathered as much." Cavendish said uncomfortably. "May I ask why?" This didn't just sound like pure curiosity. Vinnie knew what Cavendish sounded like when he had ulterior motives.
"Why do you wanna know?" Vinnie asked.
"Don't panic, but, well, me and my Dakota were sent to your dimension specifically to find answers." Cavendish said awkwardly. "Mr. Block found out about your partner tearing down the B.o.T.T., and he wanted to know the catalyst, so he could prevent the same thing from happening in our dimension."
Vinnie fidgeted uncomfortably. He could understand why Block would want to do that, but it didn't do anything to ease his discomfort. "What is he going to do to my home?"
"I believe he's intending on leaving you alone." Cavendish said slowly. Your timeline is set, and Mr. Block knows better than to try to change it now."
Vinnie didn't trust Mr. Block, but he thought that Cavendish might be right. He remembered that Mr. Block didn't really care about things that didn't directly involve him. Maybe he'd try to get revenge for his other dimensional self, but not at the risk of his own safety and life, and Vinnie knew for a fact that Balthazar wouldn't hesitate to kill Mr. Block again. He would probably consider it a treat to have the opportunity.
Vinnie really was tempted to tell Cav what was going on, but he was hesitant, and that reluctance had nothing to do with Mr. Block. Telling Cavendish might open up his eyes and encourage him to see his partner in a new light, but what if it manipulated him to look for something that he didn't really want?
What if his words scared Cavendish and made him feel the need to run from his partner again? Vinnie didn't want to be the one to ruin things for the other version of himself.
"...Balthazar did all of this for the same reason why I continually saved his life." Vinnie said. Cavendish didn't look surprised, but ever so gradually a look of pain and near desperation came to his eyes.
"I don't know why Dakota went to such lengths for me." Cavendish said. "He never told me." Dakota had expected as much, because he still hadn't actually told anybody his motives. His Mr. Block learned, and look what happened. Balthazar probably knew anyway, because their motivations were the same, but they hadn't really talked about it.
But Balthazar and Cavendish weren't exactly the same people, and their dynamics with their partners were vastly different. Vinnie knew that Cavendish cared, but did he care the way that Balthazar did? The way that Vinnie and Dakota did? The way that Dakota was so desperate for?
Vinnie didn't know, and it really wasn't his place to push for it. That was just between Cavendish and Dakota.
"I don't know if I can tell you." Vinnie said. "But you need to promise me that you won't let Mr. Block try to figure out Dakota's motivations the same way that mine did. Don't let him get hurt, or sent to the Condemned Corridor, or anything."
Cavendish looked ill. "I assure you, I have no intentions of letting anything of the sort happen to my partner." He looked around the apartment, as though it would give him answers. "You know, I never meant to hurt him."
"I know." Vinnie said. "I think he knows too, he's just kinda hurting right now."
"Because of me." Cavendish sighed. "Maybe I'll speak to Doofenshmirtz."
"Who?" Vinnie frowned. The name sounded incredibly familiar, like it was right at the tip of his mind.
"Professor Time." Cavendish clarified. "Dakota bonded with him when I was gone. I'm afraid that Doofenshmirtz has a decent amount of hostility towards me that I really didn't understand before, but I think I get it now. He knows how much I hurt Dakota, and he's angry on his behalf."
"Can't you just talk to Dakota about what's bothering him?" Vinnie asked. Cavendish seemed to be speaking to everybody except for his own partner.
"I thought that I'd already done so, but it wasn't enough." Cavendish frowned. "He is reluctant to open up to me." Vinnie had almost forgotten that their old communication issues hadn't just been Balthazar's fault. Balthazar hadn't been good at listening, but how could he listen when Vinnie wasn't saying anything?
"Maybe Balthazar can help him with that." Vinnie muttered to himself. Now Balthazar was really good at getting Vinnie to talk through his feelings that he had a hard time understanding.
"Perhaps." Cavendish said slowly, like he wasn't as sure. Vinnie had the feeling that he really didn't like Balthazar, which was weird, but made a weird amount of sense. After all, Balthazar hadn't seemed to like Cavendish very much either.
"So where's Doofenshmirtz?" Vinnie asked to change the subject. "Can we see him?"
"He's probably at the Murphy's." Cavendish said. Vinnie felt his breath get caught in his throat as he felt hope build in his chest.
"Milo? We…we can see Milo?" Vinnie asked eagerly. Cavendish looked confused at his enthusiasm. Vinnie didn't think that Cav would grow any fonder of Balthazar if he knew that he'd kept Vinnie from seeing or hearing from the boy that he had really come to care about. Still, Vinnie had to tell him something.
"Cav's been trying really hard to get rid of time travel." Vinnie said. It wasn't a lie, he was just leaving out the truth. "Milo lives in the past."
"Ah, yes, I suppose that complicates things." Cavendish muttered. "Well, I don't see why we can't go see him now." He said it so casually, as though he wasn't about to give Vinnie the one thing that Balthazar really couldn't."
"Really?!" Vinnie said just a little too loudly. Cavendish looked at him in alarm.
"...Yes." Cavendish said. Vinnie giggled excitedly and pulled Cav into a tight embrace. Cavendish stiffened and made a sound of surprise, but he sighed contentedly and slowly returned the embrace. Vinnie got so caught up in his excitement and gratitude that for half a second he forgot that Cavendish wasn't really Balthazar. That half a second was long enough for him to go a step too far.
Vinnie pulled away from Cavendish just enough to kiss him. The other man made a muffled half-yelp, and Vinnie realized just what he had done. His gut twisted with guilt as he quickly stepped back. Cavendish was just stunned and frozen.
"Sorry, I'm sorry." Vinnie said quickly. "I wasn't supposed to…I'm sorry. I forgot who you were for a second."
Cavendish was still for a long minute before he cleared his throat. "You…you would do that with your own partner?"
Vinnie rubbed his hand over his sleeve cuff. There was no point trying to lie at this point. "Yeah, 'course I would. We're partners."
"Well, yes, but I thought when you said that that you were speaking in the same way that I speak of Dakota." Cavendish said almost nervously. "Do you mean to tell me that you're romantic partners?"
"Just since he saved me." Vinnie said.
"Which never happened for me and Dakota." Cavendish muttered to himself. "Instead, I left him." He looked deep in thought. At least he didn't look like he was going to try to run away from the idea, but he needed to have time to himself to think about it.
Vinnie grabbed Cavendish's hand. "Let's go see Milo." Vinnie would be so distracted by the boy's mere presence that even if he still refused to let Cavendish out of his sight, this other version of his partner would have the chance to just sit down and have his thoughts to himself for a minute.
They went outside and decided against taking the car. Cavendish was a little too distracted to drive, and it had been so long since Vinnie had driven and neither of them thought it would be very smart. They decided to walk instead. It took a fair amount of time to walk the distance that they could drive in five minutes, but Vinnie enjoyed every minute of it. It had been far too long since he had been able to walk down the street without getting scared and suspicious glances from everybody they passed.
In this dimension, nobody gave them so much as a second look. Here, Vinnie wasn't some freak who could panic or be sent spiraling at one wrong look or word, or if he stayed in his own thoughts for a second too long. Vinnie was just another normal person.
Sure, he still might panic, but nobody here knew it, which felt like a weight off his shoulders.
They spent about half the walk in silence, and then Vinnie started asking Cav his side of what he and Dakota had been through. It was really interesting to hear. Dakota had just focused on Cavendish leaving him. Cavendish, on the other hand, talked about every little moment he had with Dakota before that incident.
Most of it actually didn't have a lot to do with their job. Cavendish had seemed frustrated with their new job with the P.I.G., and Dakota had cared even less about the job than he had about time travel, which hadn't helped Cavendish's mood.
However, Dakota had dedicated every bit of his time to cheering Cavendish up. He hadn't appreciated it at the time, but now Cavendish spoke of Dakota with nothing but fondness, and it didn't sound like he was forcing himself to see the good because he felt obligated to.
Cavendish and Dakota had different priorities, but underneath that they cared about each other just as much as Vinnie and Balthazar did, even if it showed in a different way.
When they got to the Murphy house Vinnie practically ran to the front door. He knocked, and didn't stop knocking until the door was opened by Sara. She looked mildly annoyed when she saw them. Vinnie couldn't help but fold in on himself. He knew that she wasn't all that mad at him, and was probably just a little irritated that he hadn't stopped knocking, but he couldn't relax. To Vinnie, irritation could far too easily turn into pain for him.
"Milo!" Sara yelled inside. "Your Dr. Zone friends are here."
"Coming!" Milo said from upstairs. Vinnie felt tears come to his eyes. He choked a sob and staggered inside. Sara looked alarmed as she stumbled out of his way.
"H-hey, are you okay?" Sara asked. Vinnie barely heard her. He saw Milo coming down the stairs. Vinnie whimpered and grabbed the kid, pulling him into his arms and holding him tight. He swore that he would never let him go.
"D-Dakota?" Milo patted his back. "Is something wrong?"
Vinnie shook his head. He couldn't talk right now. Milo would understand. He was such a good kid. He understood everything.
"I ask that you humor him." Cavendish said. "Vinnie'll be just fine, he's just had a difficult day."
Milo made a sympathetic sound. He returned Vinnie's hug and just let him hold onto him. He could hear the others talking, but the words passed right over his head. All that mattered to him was that Milo was here. That just made everything okay.
Eventually Milo pulled Vinnie to the couch so they could be a little more comfortable. He felt like he should be embarrassed right now, but he was just relieved and tired. He had missed Milo so much.
He knew that he needed to go home, but he just wanted to stay here a little longer. He had forgotten how good things had been back when it had been simple. This wasn't where he belonged, but he could pretend.