escordvi | closed ⚡🪶 and forevermore, i'll be chasing the storm we had.

[He just wanted to hear it. Some kind of reassurance that she wouldn't just leave him. Regret her choice.

So again there is a little more of a genuine smile, his eyes so soft before there is just a subtle shift as he regards her.]

...You, too.

[Once more brushes her cheek with the crook of his finger.]

Should you ever need it, you can always fly and rest your wings with me.

[The distance between them closes a little more, until their just a hairbreadth's away.]

I won't let you fall... I won't let you go.

[Just like him, she may never reveal everything that bothers or troubles her. She may try to do things on her own, just like he still will. That's just their nature. However, just as he will also try to lean on her more, he wants her to lean on him. Wants her to feel safer and come to him when she needs it.

Share those burdens.

And perhaps, the more often they do, the more likely they will.]

[Not again, she wants to say against his lips, so close now that she can taste the wine and the peach on his breath. So close that she just wants to breach the rest of that distance and put an end to all of this for good. To stop those words of his before he can crush her with them...

But it's with just a brush of her lips to his, a silent show of acknowledgement, an affirmation that she hears him and understands him, and that maybe, some small part of her actually believes that he won't let her go this time. That there really is a place for her to rest her wings upon his back. A small part, but it's more than what it had been when all of this started. Even more than when she had watched over him as he slept, that very real, deep fear making a home in her. Perhaps even Garuda stirring to remind her...

But she has since tried to push them all aside in favour of his voice and while they will never go away for her, at least he has a place among them, louder and clearer than all the rest in moments like this one.

A quiet moment that she allows to settle between them that lasts several heartbeats, to let his words sink in before she sighs.]

... I don't like that version of you that I saw this morning.

[His thoughts are similar to hers. It's hard not to, when they are so close and their hearts so strained, so worn out, that want they want that relief and release that can only be granted by each other. But at her words, his first instinct is to apologize again...

...]

What version do you like?

[Ah.

She should have seen that question coming, but it makes her flush all the same. She has thought about this plenty since she found him when she realized that what she saw in him was not a version of him that she liked, and why that was. She didn't like that looming shadow cast over his eyes, that faraway look that made her think of their final days together.

It's time for her to slip her lips away so that she can lean in, just far enough that he can no longer see her.]

... This one.

[That probably answers nothing.]

[NOPE. But there is a faint smile as he just follows and leans closer to her, the water quietly rippling from their movements.]

Hmmm? Not sure what you mean.

Yes, you do.

[Don't play coy with her.

But she lets him chase her all the same because as much as this part of him makes her bristle, it's the part of him that she's discovered she prefers over what she saw today.]

This arrogant old fool that gets under my skin.

From the way you phrase it, that sounds like you like it when I annoy you.

[A low chuckle is his lips brush against her skin, but not quite at her lips.]

[She snaps back immediately to look at him, her expression hardening for a fraction of second.]

That's not it.

[Don't get the wrong idea here.

But it all melts away as fast as it had come.]

You are just not yourself when you are like that.

[And she almost tells him what it reminds her of. Almost. But she manages to bite her tongue.]

[There's just a hint of one of his usual smirks, a quick flash that is only not as full as it normally is due to the subdued mood that still hangs over them.]

Is there anything else? About "myself" that you like.

[She's going to shove him underwater if he keeps up this line of questioning or so help her—]

No.

[Is the first answer that she gives quietly, but the way that her hand slides over his shoulder and her lips over his jaw will no doubt tell him that isn't the case.]

But I prefer that stupid grin of yours over you looking miserable.

Any reason why?

[Yes he's pushing it, but he kind of needs this. Not her actual answers, just... Something dumb and sillier. And be might be a little curious as to what she thinks, too.]

[Oh, he is definitely pushing it... but this is one of the rare times that she will oblige.]

... It looks better on you.

[Or try to oblige. She's not very good at offering compliments, but she is being genuine as her fingers move from his shoulder to his face, where she pokes at the corner of his lips, pushing and lifting them slightly as if to force a wider smile there.

Happiness looks better on him. It always has.]

Edited 2024-01-23 17:03 (UTC)

[There's a slight look of surprise when she pulls at his mouth before he laughs, the wider smile she wanted forming more freely as more of those shadows disappear along with it, as if chased away.

This woman...

For all her thorns and denials, she can still be quite cute. Adorable. Truly, how could he not love her when she does unexpected things like this? Especially when he knows he'll be the only one to see it.

And yet, even as his eyes shine more as he looks at her, they also soften a little. Almost a little sad.]

...You, too, you know.

[Now it's his turn to raise his hands and poke the corners of her mouth to gently pull them into a smaller smile.]

Looks better on you.

[She gives her head a little shake—not enough to shove his hands away, but enough that it will hide that little quirk of her lips that shows that whatever he's doing is working, or that furrow of her brow to show that it's not. In truth, there's that violent flutter in her chest again, that warm buzz that seems to dig its way deep into her as if he'd just struck her with his levin.

Warm enough that her cheeks flush even more, but there's a sadness and emptiness in her eyes that reflects some of his.]

... Then I will need more reasons to.

[It's not as if she had many reasons to do so for a long, long time, she realizes.]

I'll figure it out.

[And while she may have tried to shake him off, he'll be stubborn, his hand now cupping her cheek to tilt her back just a little towards him.]

All the reasons you could ever want...

[The most stubborn, arrogant, frustrating man that she has ever known, she can hardly stand it sometimes. No, she can't stand it at all, but maybe that's why she is so drawn to him—this side of him. That he makes her feel anything at all, whether it be anger or happiness or sadness, or even her own pride, if only he knew how what that meant to her. How much that affected her...

If only she knew how much...

So when he lifts her face to look at him again, he'll see all of those things in there.]

... That sounds like another promise.

Maybe it is.

[His gaze remains soft as he brushes his thumb over her cheek.]

But it's no less true. I can't be the only one receiving such a gift.

[Her eyes close, and she leans further into his touch, head tipping so that she can brush her lips over the inside of his hand, leaving a trail of heat behind.]

You aren't the only one.

[She isn't sure why she feels so compelled to say so... Perhaps she can blame it all on the fact that he had been so pensive earlier, the stark difference from what she's become so accustomed to the reason for her heart wanting to spill itself for him in this quiet moment before it's over and they return to their usual selves.

Wanting to see to it that he no longer bears that weight alone on his shoulders, and that it is because of her alone that he doesn't.

To be wanted and needed again.]

You have given me far too many gifts. I don't know what to do with them all...

[And she doesn't mean the jewelry, the box, the mirror that he snuck into her bag, or the rest of the material things he has given her.]

Edited 2024-01-23 21:55 (UTC)

[He just smiles a little as that warmth from her lips and words tickle his palm and heart.]

Just enjoy it.

[He knows she doesn't mean just those material gifts, but the meaning of his words is the same.]

If you want to do something in return then I won't stop you... But everything I do is willing with no expectations of such returns.

[Once more the distance between them closes, his voice deepening as there is a slight smirk.]

I already get to enjoy your reactions.

[Her confusion, her embarrassment, her indignation, her surprise, her tears—and the occasional smile that slips through.

More than that, he just wants her to receive the things he had always wanted to give her but couldn't. Let her have that love that she had so desperately wanted but could never find. To undo the wrongs their world inflicted upon her... Where it, and he, had failed her before.

But if he told her that she would surely break, so he just keeps it all tucked in his heart and lets her hear and feel the subtle hints through his actions.]

[That gets a look of surprise, indignation, confusion, and embarrassment all rolled into one little flash of her eyes at him, and it all but softens in a single blink as she's shifting on his lap, moving her hips over his so that she presses into his warmth a little more.]

... And? If I want to return the favour?

[If she wants to give back, just this once? Or all the other times after? She knows that he doesn't expect it, and knowing that is taking some getting used to again, but he never did, did he? Even back then, when she had been most scared of that, he never asked for anything in return for his favours, his affection, his praise. Any of it.]

What is it that you want?

Hm.

[He just continues to smile as his thumb brushes over her cheek, down to her lips briefly before sliding down her neck and collarbone before disappearing beneath the water. Yet despite his subtly suggestive actions...]

...Just you.

[His voice and his words are softer.]

Stay with me. That's all I want.

[And then with his arms around her waist, he tugs her just a little closer over him.]

And everything that comes with that, of course.

[A slight teasing smile.

However, it is clear that it really is just her very existence that he desires. To have her choose him and be by his side, even if it's not wholly out of love. He can still wait for it to build up to that, so he is also content with what they have now. All he knows to know, to be sure of, is that even if she gets scared and flies off, she'll return to him. That in the end, he really is the one she wants to be with.

And no one else.

That will be his one little selfish requirement.]

[She had a feeling that would be his answer, but the softness in his voice is a bit of a shock to her system, her breath catching ever so slightly at the way he gently pulls her close. She can't handle when he is this kind, so warm and so sweet, so content with just being with her after all that time of them trying to run from each other.

Yet, despite the terrifying rate with which her heart absolutely races for him, she is like a moth to a flame, a small bird drawn to the maw of a hungry beast knowing full well that it is a trap. A trap that is his arms around her, his lips near hers—one that she willingly steps into when it's there because she knows nothing else. Wants what's there, waiting for here.]

That's a little broad, is it not?

[She knows what he means, and she swears she feels her heart somersault.

That is all she has ever wished for from him. To want just her, as she is. Scars, blood, tears, thorns, and all. Still, she cannot help but selfishly ask—]

... What does come with that?

Well...

[A low, slow drawl as his eyes remain fixed on hers, lips just barely brushing over hers...]

Another date, perhaps?

[And she'll feel that more humorous, teasing smirk as he lightly nips her lower lip.]

[Another catch of her breath, and it's her turn to grab his lip in warning, nipping lightly before soothing it with a light press, not quite a kiss, but close...]

Stop calling them that.

[Even though today was very much one.]

... But I might be able to swing one more outing of your choice. Two if the next is to my liking.

[Just a low chuckle, knowing how much she doesn't like it when he calls them that. But that's what they are, so she should stop shying away from it—]

Or should I have you try to plan one?

[Another teasing smirk, another brush of his lips, the warmth of their breaths mixing together.]

I wonder how that would go...

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