After Aather!

[followtheblackrabbit]

[hijinks go here]

Comments

[followtheblackrabbit]

[I'm totally helping with this]

[not helping is totally helping right?]

Giiiil~

[likeawritingdesk]

[THIS HAND THIS HAND. RESPOND 8( ugh and sad but not gonna show sad face to oz anymore]

In a minute...

[followtheblackrabbit]

[thirty seconds later]

Giiiiiilllllll.

[likeawritingdesk]

What is it, Oz?

[followtheblackrabbit]

[leans against him (on his good side)]

We could always spend the first night without it.

[likeawritingdesk]

[... reaches to brush his good hand through his hair]

I can manage.

[followtheblackrabbit]

[leaning into it, catching his hand on Gil's jacket]

You can also ask for help. If it's just us then I want to support you as much as you'll support me.

[likeawritingdesk]

... Are you alright? I'm happy you've recovered so quickly, but it's been an ordeal...

[followtheblackrabbit]

[a bit heavier against him, tugging on his jacket]

It's been a lot. And fast, really really fast. For a while I just felt like I was stumbling after you, but you were pulling me along too, and you never let go. I don't know what to do with everything but I know that I can follow you, I can rely on you.

Though now . . .

It's really quiet here.

[likeawritingdesk]

. . .

[moves to put his arm around Oz, pulling him closer to him, more against his chest.]

It is quiet.

I know as long as I'm with you, it's fine. But...

The two of us... weren't alone anymore, were we.

[followtheblackrabbit]

[pressing close, moving to slide his arms around his waist]

We weren't. You had Peridot, and I had Ruby, and we both had Lelouch.

We still do, I guess. They're just a lot farther away now.

[likeawritingdesk]

. . .[deep, more contented sigh, auto soothed...]

I feel spoiled in that regard... to be so upset over just a temporary separation when we know what could happen otherwise. What we've already been through...

Hell... we'll even be able to see Elliot.

[followtheblackrabbit]

We will. And Alice and Leo too. We'll have to have a big party with everyone once it's all done.

[likeawritingdesk]

Yeah...

Everything will be fine.

[followtheblackrabbit]

Definitely.

But for now I have you all to myself.

[likeawritingdesk]

[hff]

You've always had me.

[followtheblackrabbit]

[looks up, reaching up to frame his face in his hands]

I'll always have you, too.

[likeawritingdesk]

. . .

[/////

leans forward to bump their foreheads, letting out a breath he'd started to hold]

[followtheblackrabbit]

[leaning back against him, breathing in, slowly]

I love you.

[likeawritingdesk]

[closes his eyes, absorbing that...]

You're . . . wonderful. Your strength, your weaknesses, what you've doubted and what you've stood for. . .

I . . .

[followtheblackrabbit]

[flushing, his face hot and he shivers, threading his fingers in Gil's hair]

Gil—?

[likeawritingdesk]

. . . Do you want to hear? About who I was, long ago.

[followtheblackrabbit]

[nods slightly]

I want to know.

[likeawritingdesk]

[settles with him still just as close, murmuring quietly to speak.]

... Vincent and I were always together. Our mother... likely got rid of us. We were an attraction in a cage before we escaped. From then we lived on the streets, mostly in hiding, thanks to Vincent's red eye... as a "child of misfortune," he was conveniently blamed for all the wrong in the world.

... We did anything and everything to get by.

[followtheblackrabbit]

[staying close, listening, he purses his lips and swallows, completely intent on what Gil's saying]

Gil . . .