Basil heard the words his college was saying but they fell on mostly deaf ears. He wasn’t sure there was anything else to respond, but all of this felt extremely unresolved. Come find me when you figure it out. That statement alone told Basil all he needed to hear. There was no version of this in which Lissington would be ok with… anything less than everything. It was fair, the brunette supposed. He had a right to be happy and free and have everything from someone; it simply wouldn’t be Basil. A queasy feeling bubbled up in his stomach at the thought. Basil couldn’t bring himself to imagine Gus with anyone else, and he didn’t want to.

Where did that resolution then leave him? Was he, Basil Foxwood, destined to die alone, damned? Was it just Lissington he felt this way about? Was it possible there might be a woman out there for him? The thought made him frown, harder, and Basil turned away from the other’s retreating figure. “Yeah,” he mumbled. “I’ll see you around.”

A loss of ghastly proportions.

Basil lifted the nearly smoked cigarette to his lips and took in a deep drag. His eyes were prickling again as the smoke curled around his lungs, numbing from the inside. Then, anger and frustration and grief welling up inside, the brunette growled and chucked the cigarette butt with all his strength over the side of the cliff face. Damn Augustus Lissington for making him feel like this! For making him realize something so terribly out of reach. It was ridiculous that they were both so miserably unhappy apart, and couldn’t manage a way to bridge the gap. (Couldn’t, or wouldn’t.)

Basil was breathing heavily as he scraped a hand across his wet face. It was then, and only then, that he spotted a familiar little white fluff peering out at him from between the trees. Had she been there all this time? Had he simply been so blind as to not notice her? Duchess had her tail perfectly wrapped around her toes and in an instant, Basil felt all his anger dissipate. He walked over to the precious kitten and scooped her up, burying his nose in her fur. It wasn’t as comforting as he needed, but it was better than nothing. If not for Gus, or his family, at least he had her to still live for.

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