[The truth is...he doesn't want a loft reason. Lofty reasons seem so out of reach. If she'd told him it was because she saw a hero-in-the-making within him...if she tried to placate him with grand and vague niceties...]
[Well, Darin's a dreamer but to break through this shell of doubt, he needs to be hit closer to home.]
["Brave." "Selfless." Those were words usually reserved for people Darin held in such high regard. To think that Zelda saw him this way...it filled his heart. It made his eyes burn. She saw so much good in him. And even though he doesn't see it himself, he knows he can trust Zelda. He can trust his stubborn princess to light a path forward for him.]
[But it's that last sentence that strikes him through the heart. That she'd risk it all just to have more days with him. Like today.]
[He reaches out with his free hand and places it on her cheek just as she's petting his. And he leans in once more for their foreheads to touch. It's so much easier this way. This proximity. It steadies him. It makes sense. Their noses are touching and they can feel each other's breath on their lips and for a fraction of a second, Darin can feel that familiar heat rising inside of him. A heat that he lets spread throughout.]
[By now, the sun has long since dipped over the horizon. It's not quite dusk and not quite twilight— day and night have ceased to be two separate entities and have become this messy, beautiful mix. One bleeding into the other, their boundaries lost. The last vestiges of day and the encroaching wisps of night stream into the window and for once? For once it seems like they're the only two people in the world. In this moment. This is all that matters. She is all that matters. And after this moment in time that seems to be too blissfully short and impossibly long moves forward to the next, he turns his head enough that he can pull her into a slow embrace. So that he can bury his face in the side of her neck and wreathe himself in the scent of her shampoo.]
[He stays like this for a few moments before he just...pulls her backwards. So they fall backwards in bed in each other's arms, resting on the same pillow. He meets her eyes once more and just...smiles.]
I think...that's what I like most about you, Zelda. How stubborn you can be. I've...never met someone who could keep up with my hardheadedness.
I think...saving you that day may have been the best thing I've ever done.
[For the first time he admits what they both know. He saved her. He wasn't just there by happenstance. He wasn't a passerby that randomly decided to act.]
[He saved her life. And in turn, she's become his hero.]
no subject
[Well, Darin's a dreamer but to break through this shell of doubt, he needs to be hit closer to home.]
["Brave." "Selfless." Those were words usually reserved for people Darin held in such high regard. To think that Zelda saw him this way...it filled his heart. It made his eyes burn. She saw so much good in him. And even though he doesn't see it himself, he knows he can trust Zelda. He can trust his stubborn princess to light a path forward for him.]
[But it's that last sentence that strikes him through the heart. That she'd risk it all just to have more days with him. Like today.]
[He reaches out with his free hand and places it on her cheek just as she's petting his. And he leans in once more for their foreheads to touch. It's so much easier this way. This proximity. It steadies him. It makes sense. Their noses are touching and they can feel each other's breath on their lips and for a fraction of a second, Darin can feel that familiar heat rising inside of him. A heat that he lets spread throughout.]
[By now, the sun has long since dipped over the horizon. It's not quite dusk and not quite twilight— day and night have ceased to be two separate entities and have become this messy, beautiful mix. One bleeding into the other, their boundaries lost. The last vestiges of day and the encroaching wisps of night stream into the window and for once? For once it seems like they're the only two people in the world. In this moment. This is all that matters. She is all that matters. And after this moment in time that seems to be too blissfully short and impossibly long moves forward to the next, he turns his head enough that he can pull her into a slow embrace. So that he can bury his face in the side of her neck and wreathe himself in the scent of her shampoo.]
[He stays like this for a few moments before he just...pulls her backwards. So they fall backwards in bed in each other's arms, resting on the same pillow. He meets her eyes once more and just...smiles.]
I think...that's what I like most about you, Zelda. How stubborn you can be. I've...never met someone who could keep up with my hardheadedness.
I think...saving you that day may have been the best thing I've ever done.
[For the first time he admits what they both know. He saved her. He wasn't just there by happenstance. He wasn't a passerby that randomly decided to act.]
[He saved her life. And in turn, she's become his hero.]
[The one he's always wanted.]