Thomas didn’t want to go back to La Bonne Nouris. Or any restaurant, for that matter, on his next date with Dominic. And so, once his injuries recovered, Thomas showed up at Dominic’s apartment to watch a few movies and eat snacks. Perfectly safe. Thomas arrived at Dominic’s apartment nice and early that night with some popcorn for the two of them to enjoy, popcorn that could in no way contain salt that turned into razorblades upon ingestion.

Dominic lived in a fairly metropolitan section of Neonight, full of penthouses and places of business. It was near La Bonne Nouris, which made the commute less unfamiliar but the actual arrival a bit more nerve-racking. He couldn’t help but feel uneasy as he stepped up to Dominic’s doorstep inside of the luxury apartment building that he lived in. Thomas hesitated slightly, holding his hand up to the large mahogany door. Most of these luxury apartments had lots of wood in them. Seeing as it was hard to grow in a system of underground caves, it became a sort of status symbol.

Thomas didn’t need to knock. Eventually, the door opened, with Dominic standing on the other side wearing a pair of pyjamas and holding a bowl of popcorn. “Hey, Thomas!” Dominic exclaimed, opening the door a bit wider and gesturing to the inside of his apartment.

The living room was a massive open foyer, with an extremely high ceiling and white marble tiling. The furniture was a bright golden colour, and the entire apartment had a dome shape to it. There was a huge kitchen just off from the living room’s long and luxurious couches, whose kitchen islands were coated in some sort of quartz or gemstone that Thomas didn’t recognize. It was a beautiful, clean white colour—one that translated to the rest of the huge penthouse. Everything that wasn’t white was an eye-catching golden colour. Gold bricks lined the walls, and a golden chandelier hung from the ceiling above the center of the penthouse. A spiral staircase led up from near the kitchen up towards a hidden second floor. “It’s . . . beautiful, Dominic. I didn’t know you could afford all this on a lawyer’s salary. No offence, I guess,” Thomas said, stepping inside and examining all of the various intricacies of the architecture.

“Oh, you know. Smart investments. Rich family. And gold isn’t really the same status symbol as it was a long time ago since we started mining out other planets, so it’s not as impressive as it looks,” Dominic said, walking over to the kitchen and getting out two wine glasses, along with a bottle adorned with a label in a language Thomas couldn’t read. Thomas wasn’t fully listening; he was looking out the sliding glass door at the view of Neonight. Dominic’s apartment was far higher up than Thomas’s was, and it gave him an incredible view of the caverns. Walking through the city could feel oppressive with the heavy emphasis on darkness and a neon colour palette, but it was positively brilliant when he was given the full picture. Then, something in his reflection caught his eye. Dominic walked over, holding a full glass of wine and extending it out to Thomas. “Sorry, I feel like I’m bragging a bit. Maybe we can go to your place sometime?”

“Oh, it’s . . . busy. Yeah, my apartment is busy with . . . termites. And cockroaches. It’s a whole thing. So, that’s a hard no.”

“Oh, that’s fine. I hope your cockroach problem gets better!” Dominic smiled and handed over the wine glass.

“Also, do you have like a maid or someone else who lives here?” Thomas asked, looking out the window again.

“Uh, no I don’t. Why?”

Thomas pointed to the glass patio door. “I thought I saw someone standing out there.”

* * *

Dominic and Thomas spent the evening watching old movies from the 2030s, enjoying a blast from the past from fifty years before they were even born. Thomas couldn’t help but shake the feeling that somebody was watching him. He didn’t laugh at their jokes as much as he normally did, and he didn’t drink his wine with the same thirst either. He wanted to stay sharp. He sometimes saw somebody appear in the window, or sometimes he’d see somebody standing behind him. The paranoia was starting to get to him. “Hey, how’s the case going against the Lonely Hearts Club?” Thomas asked tentatively.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“That? Oh, I finished that a while ago. Somehow, we lost even though I delivered one of the best closing arguments of my entire career and we had overwhelming evidence against them.” Dominic sighed. “It’s probably all witness intimidation and jury tampering. It’s so hard to get a fair trial these days.”

“That sucks. So, there’s no way any of them would be trying to kill you like at La Bonne Nouris?” Thomas asked.

“Did we even find out if that was the Lonely Hearts Club? Also no, unless they want revenge for accomplishing something I didn’t even accomplish, which seems stupid. Is that what you’re nervous about? You’ve been looking over your shoulder all night.”

“Uh, no. I’m just curious. I want you to be safe, after all.”

“I’ll be all right, Thomas. Trust me. You aren’t the only one looking out for me, although I do appreciate your concern regardless,” Dominic said, leaving Thomas to look back at his wine. The second he stared at the rich glass, his eyes widened in raw panic as he suddenly turned around and sent a glowing punch flying through the air at the space behind Dominic’s head. But there wasn’t anyone there, just empty space.

“What? Where the fuck did he go?” Thomas shouted, a mix of confusion and rage filling his voice.

“Thomas,” Dominic said through gritted teeth. Thomas looked down to see that he had spilled his wine all over Dominic as the two sat on the couch. “Why did you do that?”

“There was a man behind you. I’m sorry.”

“There was no man behind me Thomas.”

“I’m really sorry about the wine. Please don’t be mad.”

“I don’t give a shit about the wine. I give a shit about you!” Dominic wiped some of the wine off his face with his sleeve. “You seem . . . off. I don’t know what’s going on with you but it’s creeping me out.” Dominic stood up and walked over to the kitchen to grab some paper towels. “I think maybe you should go home.”

“What? Dominic, if you send me home, this Civ user will kill you! Also the termites!”

“That was a lie, Thomas, I’m a lawyer. I know what they look like. We don’t even have termites on Mars. I think you’re stressed and tired, and you should go get some sleep.”

“Can I at least sleep here? I can sleep on the couch, I’ll be quiet!”

“Something tells me you won’t get much sleep if you spend the night here.”

“Oh, really?” Thomas raised an eyebrow and gave a knowing smirk.

“I mean because you’re paranoid. God! Because you’re going to be up all night looking for a Civ user or whatever.” Dominic walked back over to Thomas after drying himself off. “Please, Thomas.”

Thomas thought about it, staring up into Dominic’s eyes. “Okay,” he said, getting up and walking out the door, not waving goodbye as he stepped outside. He had gotten down to the bottom of Dominic’s building and out to the dusky street—lit by neon street lamps—before leaning against the side of the sleek matte-black skyscraper. “Phantrana, are you listening?”

Suddenly, the classic grid pattern appeared all over the world . . . and the image of a terrifying eldritch creature swimming through the darkness, which was something he had gotten almost too used to. “Why am I such a terrible boyfriend?” Thomas asked.

“I disagree with the premise of the question, Thomas.” Phantrana boomed.

“You know what I mean. Dominic’s smart, handsome, funny, rich, stable. I’m not good enough for him, and I’ve never said that about anyone I’ve dated. I need to cut things off.”

“I don’t understand you, Thomas.”

“What?”

“Maybe this is just my general lack of understanding about the human condition, but you’ve just found someone you deeply care about, who cares about you just as much, you’re great together, and he has the type of wealth and status that constitutes the whole reason you bond with someone romantically, right?”

“Yeah, I’m not sure about the last part. Did Civ beings only marry the rich? Did you have sugar squid-starfish-monster-people?”

“That isn’t important. The important thing is simple: you find someone like, and now you’re trying to cut it off?”

“Well, yeah, he deserves better. I’m a murderer, for Christ’s sake. He’s a lawyer who dispenses justice to the gangs of Neonight.”

“Don’t you do that too? Is that not what you’re doing with the Krokodil Crime Family right now?”

“Um, I guess. I guess you’re right, yeah.”

“So what the FUCK is wrong with you?”

“Wow, that is some direct therapy. Do we want to try the dead relatives thing again?”

“That was a rhetorical question, I know exactly what’s wrong with you: you hate yourself.”

“I don’t hate myself. What are you talking about? I’m the most self-centred person I know. how dare you?”

“Your years of guilt and abandonment have become internalized inside your soul, festering into self-hatred. You hate yourself for killing people. You feel worthless because your father left, and you feel like a failure because you couldn’t save your mo—”

“I KNOW! Thomas yelled. “I know all of that. Just . . . how do I fix it?”

“It’s easy, Thomas. Go to him.”

“But he just said I should leave!”

“Do you ever wonder if people are just as lonely and irrational as you are? Because they are, Thomas. Dominic is sitting there feeling like an asshole because he met someone he really likes and he made him have a mental breakdown and he doesn’t want to hurt you anymore. Everyone is a stupid jerk with dumb feelings, Thomas. Everyone but me, and that’s why you need me. Don’t forget that you need me. It’s lonely in the void.”

“I get it, Phantrana. Thank you.”

“Also, I totally saw someone in those reflections too. You should really head up there. That’s definitely a Civ user.”