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Robert's not sure what he expected the fallout of his actions to be, but still, what happens is not what he expects. He's roughed up pretty badly by the arresting officers, but that might actually be the worst of it. To charge Robert with a crime, they'd have to explain what the man he'd murdered had been doing there in the first place, what the circumstances could have been that would have made Robert sprint out of an awards banquet to intercept him. Robert knows too much to be disposed of; in the end, Robert turns in his badge and his gun, and his father furiously accepts a forced retirement.
Halinka returns the ring he'd given her. She keeps the camera. Robert hopes she finds happiness, although he knows how hollow it would sound to tell her so.
His mother sends him to stay with relatives in Kraków--until things settle down, she says, until things blow over, which Robert is pretty sure refers to his father more than anything else. He's there longer than he expects, and while his mother's sister assures him that he hasn't overstayed his welcome, the dirty looks her husband gives Robert suggest otherwise. He finds a job and a place to stay. It's not much bigger than his rooms at his parents' house had been, but the space is his and only his. He sits alone in his apartment, and when he exhales the breath it seems like he's been holding for weeks, he nearly cries with relief.
He writes a letter to Arek. Robert hadn't looked for Arek in the aftermath--he was afraid of what could happen if he found him, and even more afraid of what might happen if he didn't. So he writes Arek a letter and hopes that it will find him. The letter is full of apologies: for all the trouble Robert had gotten them both into, and for all the trouble Arek would've been in regardless. That second category isn't Robert's fault, but it's hard not to feel complicit.
He writes that he hopes Arek is doing well. He misses Arek, misses him fiercely, but doesn't dare put that down on paper.
Robert sends the letter and tries to put it from his mind. He does his job. He makes some acquaintances. He tries not to attract attention. He hears a whisper here and there about hyacinths, and he does his best to put out one or two careful whispers of his own. Nothing comes of it, of course, but it feels freeing all the same.
The knock at the door comes when he's not expecting it. He pushes down a flutter of panic--there's nothing to panic about, not yet--and opens it.
Robert looks out into the hallway at Arek. He's just as Robert remembers him, standing in the hallway like it's the easiest thing in the world for him to be there, his blond curls somehow radiant in the shitty light of the hallway, Robert's letter clutched in his fist.
"I'm looking for a man who works with troubled youths," Arek says, absolutely straight-faced.
Robert just stands there, agape.
"I ask," Arek says, leaning forward conspiratorially, "Because I am a youth. And I have been known to be in trouble."
"Come in," Robert manages, and he grabs Arek's arm and drags them both into the apartment.
The door shuts behind them, and Robert lingers awkwardly in the entryway as Arek surveys the space. He expects Arek to comment on how small it is, or how poorly decorated it is, or how lonely the place feels, but what he says instead is: "Your mother said you were living with your aunt."
Robert blinks, surprised. "You spoke to my mother?"
"You said you would find me." Arek crosses his arms, regarding Robert coolly. "When you didn't, I had to take matters into my own hands."
"I...I didn't know if you would want me to find you. Things were...complicated."
Arek huffs a laugh. "Things were complicated before the shooting started. But you saved my life."
"Still, before that you'd told me to go. I didn't want you to feel, you know," Robert waves a hand, "Obligated."
"You saved my life," Arek repeats.
"It was the right thing to do."
Arek steps closer to Robert. "You didn't do it because it was the right thing to do."
Heat floods Robert's face. Arek's right, of course. It was the right thing to do, but that's not why Robert had done it. He looks away from Arek's intense gaze and manages to say, "I'm just glad you're okay."
There's a long pause. When Robert looks back to Arek, there's a complicated mix of emotions on Arek's face. Eventually, he meets Robert's eyes and says, "I worried that your connections wouldn't be enough to protect you. I worried that you would be disappeared and I would never know what had happened. If I hadn't gotten your letter--" He cuts off abruptly, but Robert can imagine. It's the same feeling that had driven Robert out of the awards ceremony, out into the night to save him.
Robert moves towards Arek and, meeting no resistance, pulls him into an embrace. To Robert's surprise, he's the one who ends up breaking down, heaving sobs that leave him gulping for breath. Arek holds onto him, kind and patient, which makes him cry a little more.
"I'm sorry for--for everything," Robert says into Arek's shoulder when he can finally form words, when he's all cried out. "I'm sorry I didn't find you. I'm sorry I lied."
"You did lie," Arek says. He pulls away from Robert just far enough that he can see his face, wiping away the last of Robert's tears. "But not about the most important thing." He smiles, he smiles, and then he kisses Robert.
They kiss and kiss and kiss, undressing each other as they stumble towards the bed. It's easier than Robert remembers, but then, of course it is. He's done lying--to Arek, and to himself.
He lets himself want it, and it's good.
Afterwards, they curl against each other in the little bed, their legs a tangle, Robert's head against Arek's bare chest. It feels a little miraculous: that Arek's here, that's Arek's here with him, that they're both still breathing at all.
Robert reaches down towards Arek's new scar, the shiny, still-pink skin where Robert hadn't managed to keep him from getting shot. He hesitates, looking up at Arek. "Can I?"
Arek nods sleepily, and Robert runs a reverent hand across the scar. It's hard not to think about everything they've been through. It's even harder not to think about what might happen now.
It's like Arek can hear all the things Robert is thinking, because he makes a thoughtful noise and kisses Robert's forehead. He kisses Robert's forehead and it's easy and it's perfect. "Sleep," he says. "There will be time for everything tomorrow."
"I'm glad you're here," Robert says, meaning it every way he possibly can. Arek pulls him closer, and the two of them drift off to sleep.