Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Robert, or Robbie – to his colleagues and non-existent friends, was done with his job. Every working day, ever since he had got this job after graduating a few years ago, he hated it with sheer unadulterated loathing and that was why he was one of the first workers to rush home right when the clock struck six. Of course it wasn’t the worst job in the world, oh no – it gave Robbie enough money to pay for his apartment, buy food and some pleasant things, and it didn’t require any physical activities, which was very important. And yet, sometimes it was just too much to bear.

Who knew reviewing scientific articles for a small magazine would be that hard. Meaning not the work itself – it was perfectly fine. If only he could concentrate on it enough. Just imagine, there were less than 15 people working together with him – and they made as much noise as a crowd of football fans. No one would ever shut up around him, no matter how he tried to ask them to keep quiet – everyone simply ignored him or said he needed to cheer up. Cheer up, you know, like he could change moods all at once!

Robbie felt no one could understand him at work. His boss would always tell him he didn’t contribute to the collective, that he needed to talk to the other workers more. Offers like that just made him snort. Teambuilding? Workshops? Office parties? No, he didn’t need any of that.

This was probably one of the many reasons Robbie didn’t communicate much in his everyday life. He lived alone, and the only way he would speak freely and not because he had to was internet. He managed to get an old desktop a few years ago and had Internet at a low tariff rate - it was quite convenient because Robbie only checked his email and visited technology and engineering forums with few images or videos.

It was at one of those forums that he casually met a person. Checking the forums as usual, Robbie came across a new topic online with a help request – something about a broken freezer – and couldn’t help but reply – there were zero answers so far and it seemed quite simple. He closed the topic and completely forgot about it until a few days after he received a “Thank you” message from the person who posted it. Robbie promptly replied, saying he was glad that his Engineering degree was finally in use. What he didn’t expect was to get another answer, which came just a few minutes later – and it was another question about his freezer. One thing leading to another, having discussed the advantages and disadvantages of different cryogenic equipment, they exchanged their emails – and well, that escalated quickly.

It was all surreal, too good to be true, even. Soon they were discussing not only technologies, but other subjects that they were interested in, and the more they spoke to each other, the more common interests they discovered – even the subtle ones. Robbie had learned that this person was interested in things like costume making and makeup design – it was the person’s college major or something. He, himself, wouldn’t admit that he had a liking for things like that to the people he talked to every day, but he felt safe discussing it online, and he didn’t regret keeping up the conversation – he was showered with plenty of useful information and advice. It was really easy to talk to that mysterious person, since they were both peers. The correspondence had become regular and intense, and every evening and night Robbie was patiently awaiting one or multiple answers. A few times they sent photos of themselves to each other, and once they even had a phone call – which was short and muffled because of the bad intercity connections, but Robbie had learned that his friend was a “he” and he had a nice deep voice, actually.

Their conversations felt so natural that Robbie didn’t even worry about knowing so little about his pen pal. All the man knew that he dropped out from college and didn’t have a stable job but rather changed them. Moreover, Robbie didn’t know his name, he didn’t even think of asking him – he tended to call him Rikki because his username and email address was GlitterRikki. Sometimes Rikki would disappear from the online world for days or even weeks, but he always returned and apologized, saying he had a lot of errands to do – which made sense to Robbie, because sometimes Internet seemed overwhelming to him and he disconnected from it as well. But no matter how little information, Robbie never complained or asked uncomfortable questions. He simply enjoyed what he had, and, frankly, this all was enough for Robbie. He was practically the only person who Robbie had long sustainable conversations with and didn't get tired. Sometimes Robbie caught himself on thinking about it and anticipating the chat too much, far too much for an online friend.

That Friday in May was one of Robbie’s worst days at work because everyone at work kept irritating him to the point he almost lost an important paper among the other ones and missed lunch, and he hadn’t had a night of sleep for at least a week. 1 am, and he had been looking up the news articles, desperately trying to make himself sleepy. Suddenly a mail notification popped up at the corner of the screen – and it was a message from Rikki, who was offline for, like, two weeks. Excitedly, Robbie instantly sent a "Hello" back.  After exchanging greetings, Rikki suddenly disappeared for half an hour, which made Robbie anxious about writing something wrong, as he was turning in his chair and walking across the room restlessly. He had almost got out of his mind with worry before he received the long-awaited message half an hour later. The man read it many times, for it wasn’t the messages he’d been accustomed to:

“I’m having a road trip right now because I have some business at the West, and I really need a spare driver and a companion. It’s not easy to travel alone by car for long, you know, and we have wanted to meet for a long time, right? I will be passing your town next week. Please write back soon.”

Robbie turned away from the computer, stood up and went to the kitchen to make himself some tea – drinking tea with some sweet candies helped him think faster. Sitting in the only chair in the room, with a cup of tea in one hand and with a chocolate bar in another, he was lost in troublesome thought. If you thought really hard about it, he could be brutally murdered, sold to slavery or worse. His suspicions could be true and at the other end of the line could be a serial killer, or just a fraudster who would steal his money and leave him dying on the road somewhere in the desert. But he hadn’t heard about cases like that for a very long time, and he was no naïve young teenager who was using the Internet for the first time.  Who needs him anyway, with literally nothing in possession except a one room apartment in a cheap neighborhood and some lousy electronic home appliances that hardly worked? That’s right, nobody. Besides, he had always wanted to see Rikki in real life – and this was just the right opportunity. Both tempting and dangerous, both exciting and tricky. And yet, offers like that had never been frequent in Robbie’s life.

Whatever, he finally thought, finishing his tea. Things couldn’t get much worse. Screw his job. Screw all of this mundane routine that had never given him any joy, satisfaction or will to live.

He replied that he would really like to join.

***                    

“A vacation? For a month?” The boss was clearly surprised when he had read the paper handed in to him.

“I haven’t got one for two years, Mr Busybody. Please”

“Of course you may have one. We’re not doing nothing serious at the moment, and I guess we could hold on without you for a month”. A shiny optimistic smile returned to the man’s tanned face. “Have fun there! Maybe you will return feeling better and fully rested!” - The last sentence only made Robbie smile wryly and excuse himself “to return some papers” simply not to bear the boss’ company anymore.

On the last day of his work, Robbie counted the hours and minutes until the end of the day, shivering in anticipation. Rikki was going to pick him up in front of the building entrance, and the man had a small briefcase ready. Time moved slowly, and when it was finally six, it seemed like ages had passed. As soon as he saw it, Robbie quickly said goodbye to everyone in the office, collected all his things, grabbed his coat and made it just in time to get into the elevator. In no time, he was standing in front of the entrance to the 50 floor building near the parking sign, waiting completely still. “I’ll see you”, - said the last message he had received the day before, and that was a bit confusing. Surely, Robbie had seen a few photos of his soon-to-be trip companion, but they were all blurry and with makeup on, so he didn’t know what to expect.

His uneasy thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the air horn. A black sedan that had obviously seen service – judging by its numerous scratches - stopped just in front of the man, almost hitting him. Robbie shuddered and felt his skin crawl with excitement. The window of the car opened, and the man in the driver’s seat looked just like on the photos – the short black haircut, the makeup on point, the black turtleneck sleeveless shirt that looked neither cheap nor expensive. He looked right at Robbie, piercing him with keen grey eyes.

“Hello, darling”, - the man said with a wide grin, which looked amicable at first sight and slightly intimidating at second. Some upbeat rock music was playing inside the car. – “You’re right on time. Get in”

The choice had already been made, and there was no turning back. Without any hesitation, Robbie got into the car, and from that moment, the journey to the unknown had begun.

Chapter Text

“So, um”, - asked Robbie a few moments after he got into the seat near the driver’s seat and the car started moving. - “Where are we going?”

“First, to Storbaer. I need to return some things I don’t need anymore“. – The man gestured at the trunk packed with big boxes to the maximum; they were all yellow and you wouldn’t guess what was there. – “Then right to the coast and back. I am meeting a lot of people, but I don’t know if need to meet them all, though. Flexible schedule, you know”.

“Right”, - Robbie nodded, loosening the buttons of his citrin shirt. - “And did you mention something about driving?”

“Ah, yes. I had a thought you would be fine with driving late at night. I noticed you’re no stranger to staying up late, sometimes even until 4 in the morning”, - the other man grinned, while Robbie cast down his eyes, a bit embarrassed by the mention of his sleeping problems. – “Nothing too hard, and we can take turns”.

“Whatever”, Robbie shrugged indifferently – no problems with that whatsoever. “Just don’t tell me I should smile more often”.

“What for?”

“Just don’t, okay?”

“Sure thing”. By that time they had already left the town and were now passing the bleak suburbs in silence.

“Oh, and by the way”, - the unconfident ex-office worker finally managed to speak out the question that had troubled him for so long. “Is your real name Rikki, or is it something else?”

“Rikki is a pseudonym of mine”, - his companion let out a chuckle. - “My real name is Glanni Glæpur, in case you’re interested”.

“Could I hear your name somewhere before?” For reasons unknown, it sounded very familiar to Robbie.

“Yes, probably” – Glanni smiled pensively, and the radio music filled the air again.

***

Storbaer was only in a couple of hours drive from Robbie’s hometown, and they got there quite fast for the lack of traffic jams. They stopped in front of a big white house, the kind you usually see on the pictures in magazines about rich people. Other houses around it looked as polished and as this one, but they varied in colors and garden decorations.

“Wait for me, I’ll be back in a moment” Glanni took all the boxes from the car and grabbed something else, some piece of clothing – a coat, probably. He went to the front door, rang a bell and disappeared in the house, leaving Robbie completely alone in the car.

 Robbie kept looking at the house door at first, but it looked like it was going to take long, so he gave up, but he had time to notice that the paint was peeling off from the car, and its real color was pink. He was still bored, so now he decided to take a look around inside the car. He opened the glove compartment before making sure everything was okay.

First, there was an opened bag of candies. They looked nice, but Robbie decided not to risk – they might be overdue or even worse. Then there was a driver’s licence, and Robbie opened it out of pure interest. It looked pretty new and clear, if the police checked it, but to his surprise, it wasn’t a license given to Glanni. It was given to Rikki Ríki.

And there was also a gun. Well, that just got more interesting. Robbie roughly slammed the compartment, just in time for Glanni to come back.

“All done!” the man beamed, throwing a pink case with something at the back seat (and there was definitely a coat too) and starting the car. “We change places after the next stop”. Robbie simply nodded, still shocked from what he had seen before. However, nothing strange had happened while they kept driving, they even talked about the places they had traveled to over the course of their lives, and laughed about it.

The next stop was in another hour away, and it didn’t look as shiny as the other one, more like the contrary. Driving through a narrow suburban street, Glanni stopped abruptly at the curb and almost slipped outside, telling to wait a bit again. While he was alone, Robbie moved to the driver’s seat and checked the arm rest. Nothing.

Suddenly, Glanni came back, agitated and tumultuous, and he jumped in the car at a speed of light.

“Drive. Quick” – he shouted, and Robbie complied without thinking, pushing on the pedals, forgetting about the road traffic rules for a moment. The street was soon behind them, and then a highway, and then a deserted wide road.

“Alright, we got off, you can slow down”, Glanni finally said, and Robbie exhaled out loud. “I’m sorry for frightening you, the situation went wrong and I almost got attacked, so I got out as fast as I could. Are you okay?”.

“I’m alright now. Can we change the subject for something nicer?” Robbie had calmed down, but only because everything happened so fast and he hadn’t realized it yet.

They kept talking about things incomprehensible to a common person, while evening was slowly changing into night. The sky turned vast lilac and green, and the trees turned purple, indigo, and then some colors he had never seen before, and some colors he had never heard of, and the highway seemed to go on forever. The radio was full of soft rock and roll, with more mush and ambient noise the further they drove. Glanni turned the radio off, and they were driving through a big, dark, darkening indigo and purple plain, with a clear night sky above them. The full moon was looking down at them, round and shiny like a clean plate, and it would give you thoughts how you usually see views like that on professional photos or postcards. Dreamlike, virtual-reality like. Not a single car was passing by, and Robbie drove steadily towards the horizon. He made a quick glance at Glanni and noticed he had fallen asleep.

***

They finally made a stop at a cheap motel at the edge of the road a few hours later, after Glanni had woken up. Semitransparent curtains, walls with pealing wallpapers, a minibar, a cable TV in the corner. Two narrow beds next to each other with leopard headboards, how tasteful.

"We'll have a bit of rest”, Glanni said, opening a can of something from the minibar and sitting down on the bed. - “Not the best place, but that's all they have over here". He let out a dry laugh, but you could see he sounded exhausted from the road and out of energy. “We're up at 11 in morning, I know it's early, but we have a meeting to catch”.

Robbie stretched on his bed powerlessly and muttered something back - he hadn't driven for ages and that had really worn him out. He’d never thought he’d come to this. A week ago, he was in bed in his own lousy apartment, restlessly turning, wishing for sleep or a chat, and now, a person who probably knew him best was practically sitting on the other bed next to his. He seemed so close, and yet still very much unknown. What was that obscure business he was up to? And what was about that fake driver's license? Something odd was happening, that was obvious.

And he wanted to think more about it, but then sleep took away his consciousness.

Chapter Text

When Robbie woke up, sun was already shining through the curtains, just as if it was willing to blind you. Glanni was out somewhere, so he took some time to lie in bed for a bit before getting up and finding something to wear. The alarm clock on the bedside table said it was 11:30 already, but oh god, it felt like it was only 7:30. Sluggishly Robbie tried to look around, still not used to the light of the day, just when he heard the bathroom door slam and was blinded once again. For Glanni fresh out of the shower, fully dressed and make up on, was truly a dazzling sight – not to mention he was wearing a sequined long sleeved crop top that reflected the sunlight.

“Morning!” – he greeted Robbie, who was sitting completely in awe and unable to move. - “I hope you slept enough, because it’s going to be a long day ahead, so get ready!” He disappeared in the bathroom again, leaving Robbie to recover from the observed things. The man quickly got up from the bed and started putting some clean clothes on, chasing away the completely inappropriate and unnecessary thoughts – no, he couldn’t let them catch him.  

The program of the day was pretty much the same as the one yesterday: they got into town, stopped somewhere, Glanni went out and came back with a bag or two, then they drove forward. No accidents like the day before had occurred, and it looked like things were going rather well – Glanni was smiling contently and talking non-stop while he was driving.

“Nah”, – Robbie shook his head after Glanni asked him if he had ever wanted to start writing a blog about the science things that he knew. He was smiling and almost genuinely chuckled, for the first time this week.  - “I’m too lazy for that.”

“You can’t be lazy with all the things you do!” – objected Glanni. – “You read a lot, you write long posts on forums, and from what you’ve told me, it sounds like you’re really working hard at your job. And I’m so much lazier than you, I didn’t even graduate from college.”

“I skipped most of gym classes in college and handed in all my papers exactly on my deadline. Does it sound active to you? “

“I skipped most of high school. Try to keep up with me, dear”

The road went on, and the dialogue went on as well, now livelier and amusing to both of them, and it was like the thing Robbie had always missed – fun. Maybe, the man thought, it was the most fun he’d ever had in general. His life lacked this and he hadn’t realized it until now.

***

They stopped at the groceries around four in the afternoon to buy some takeaway food for lunch. A small shop just near the road, you didn’t even have to find a parking spot, you could just leave your car and walk in. For some reason, the food that didn’t need cooking was the furthest section from the entrance, so the two men had to pass a few big shelves of different fruit. “Ew”, - blurted Robbie automatically, and was a bit surprised when he heard a soft chuckle back.

They took a couple of peanut butter sandwiches and two soda cans, and some chocolate bags - just in case they wanted something later. Robbie and Glanni got back in the car and opened the bags covering the sandwiches, preparing to eat on the spot, when Glanni turned his head back all of a sudden.

Two black-clad men were approaching the car, the smoke from their cigarettes like clouds covering the bright sky. A shade of worry started to fill Robbie when one of them knocked at the window, and Glanni had to pull it down.

The look of a man brooding above the car made Robbie start to panic, and the reality was falling into mist as he only heard fragments of the conversation. The men and Glanni were talking something about the money, the money that Glanni owed to the men, while his friend claimed he knew nothing of that, and the situation was becoming more and more tense, threats getting more serious. All of a sudden, Glanni opened the glove compartment and grabbed the gun, aiming it towards the unwanted guests, while instantly ending up at gunpoint himself. The clicks of the gun mechanisms pulled Robbie to the reality. Something had to be done, or god knew how it would end.

“Stop!” Robbie cried out loud, grasping the other man’s hand instinctively with a strong grip, and, before the other man could realize anything, snatched out the gun from Glanni’s hands and threw it somewhere at the back seat. - “Drive before we got both killed!” – he shouted, and then he heard the sound of the gears, and the car almost flew off towards the road, followed by a series of gunshots that, thankfully, missed. Strangely enough, no car followed them, and they soon managed to shake off the pursuers and drive towards the desolated road. Glanni slowed down a bit, and nothing had been said yet.

Processing all this wasn’t easy, and Robbie had to catch his breath before proceeding to speak or do anything. Honestly, he didn’t know himself what had gotten into him. He had absolutely no idea how to act in a situation like that and he had no idea what to say, but given that he had to, one way or another, he broke the silence.

“So, - Robbie’s voice faltered as he tried to stay calm, - “you’re a criminal, right?”

“I guess so, honey. That’s probably you think you’ve heard about me, I was in the papers,“ – Glanni said without a single note of irritation or anger and continued to drive at the same speed, as if that was no big deal. - “Do you mind?”

Robbie thought for some moment, furrowing his brows and shrugging absentmindedly.

“Not really", he paused musingly. “I used to fake my grades in high school”.

The seriousness of Robbie’s face made the other man burst in uncontrolled laughter, clearing the remains of uneasiness in the air completely. “Amazing. You’re just amazing”. They finally entered the highway.

***

They stopped at the gas station with a 1950s diner, trapped in a time loop and sucking up the water from the sand of the desert. The diner was screaming with red neon and loud music, open, open, open. Right in the middle of nowhere, and that place was so crowded they hardly managed to find a small table by the window.

“Don’t worry about the money, take anything you like”, - Robbie heard as he was looking through the menu. He had never really been to places like this one before, so it took him a lot of time before finally deciding what to order and to actually speak it out.

It looked like another day was coming to an end. Glanni was choosing a dessert, his face covered with the menu so you could only see the top of his head. This new world had such wondrous things in it, Robbie thought, slurping a bubblegum flavored milkshake with extra whipped cream and a maraschino cherry on top as he stared into the window behind him, watching the endless sky slowly turn from rosy and lavender sunset into the purplish twilight. But, having turned away from the diner interior, he couldn’t notice a strong gaze fixed on him – the menu had been put away.