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It wasn’t something they ever talked about.
After all, names had power. Therefore it only seems reasonable to assume that discussing a topic would give it legitimacy. However, while it was never discussed, it was still recognized. The elephant in the room that neither wanted to admit to.
They couldn’t really be blamed for it though. After everything that both of them had gone through in life, a little paranoia was quite understandable.
For weeks after becoming corporeal, Bob had walked around shell shocked. Waiting for the other shoe to drop, the rug to get swept out from underneath him. Centuries of being an incorporeal slave bound to his own skull, had naturally dissuaded him from the notion that good tidings could come to him. Even after meeting Harry, Bob didn’t hold much faith in the future. Always fearfully awaiting the day that Harry would be taken away from him, by natural or unnatural means. After all, the boy was only mortal.
More than that though, Bob did not trust that the friendship that he and Harry shared would hold forever. Not that he didn’t believe or trust Harry’s friendship, but he feared that a day would come when he would lose Harry’s loyalty and respect. For all of Harry’s white knight instincts, how much could he really feel for a long dead bad ass necromancer? Thus, he never even considered entertaining the notion that their relationship could grow into something more. Would never have risked mentioning something of the sort.
Not that Harry’s mental state was much better off. Losing his parents at a young age and then being forced to kill his murderous uncle, Harry had long since become wary of the possibility that those he grew attached to would leave his life just as suddenly as they had entered it. It’s one of the reasons, that he had allowed himself to depend on Bob as much as he did. As an incorporeal ghost, Harry had assumed that Bob would be bound to him until he died. Not that there wasn’t some fear of desertion, made only worse by the memory of losing the skull, even temporarily, to the shade of his uncle.
Bob was his life, his entire being. Harry would have given anything to bring him happiness. A corporeal Bob was like a wish come true, something he had never dared dream about. Yet, from the start there was a terrifying fear in the back of his mind, that a corporeal Bob was a Bob that didn’t need him, was no longer bound to him. Harry could never refuse Bob anything, and if Bob chose to go, Harry was resigned to disregarding his feelings and letting him go.
As more weeks passed, and they settled into a routine, it seemed for all intents and purposes that they had accepted the present situation and had allowed themselves to be swayed into believing that things would be all right. A deeper relationship had started, made almost inevitable by the fact that they were sharing the only bed in the apartment. But still, there was a slight unease that would come upon one of them at some point. Some fear, that neither dared mention.
So, maybe it was understandable that they held each other too tightly at night. Afraid that even a little space would allow the forces that had controlled their lives for so long to sweep one of them away.