[ Gets murmured back after he opens his eyes from where they'd fallen shut when her hand traces over his face, unintentionally memorizing the feeling to keep it with all the other times. Something else to hold dear, something to stoke all those what ifs just as much as why not even as he wills it away without much luck. He could still add more. He could.
Instead he leans in to kiss her forehead in an echo of earlier even if he's the only one who knows it and lets his lips linger again. It'll have to be enough. There's been so much time, certainly, but there's also still time to figure it out in favor of letting it go for now to settle in for the night.
This time Claude doesn't remember falling asleep. He does, and time passes, and days pass, until there's a stay in the hospital which has him finding even more ways to escape.
But when the time comes, finally being out and back home isn't exactly the relief he'd hoped it would be. That's something he'd half-expected: familiar faces and a secure place to be helps when everything about moving from one location to yet another was jarring, including standing in his room at the inn looking at things he hadn't touched in weeks. Maybe that makes it even easier to step back into a routine to keep himself moving to grab onto some semblance of normalcy.
Of course, that also means being around less at night when he takes back to roaming Cadens between stopping at libraries to find new books, stopping in at places he'd volunteered to see how things have been and browsing stores, and going for walks just to enjoy being outside. There's a chance he should invite others to come with him, but it's easier - he tells himself - to take the time to be alone for a bit.
On this particular evening, though, Claude returns back to the inn roughly around dinnertime and when he lets himself into their apartment, at first he thinks no one's there based on how quiet it is. He kicks his boots off at the door while taking off his satchel and starts to head to his room before he catches a glimpse of familiar pink hair in the sitting area and changes course. ]
Oh, hey. [ Said as he comes around the side of the couch to drop down into the seat next to Hilda with a smile. ] Hope you weren't enjoying being all by yourself since I'm here to disrupt it for you.
no subject
[ Gets murmured back after he opens his eyes from where they'd fallen shut when her hand traces over his face, unintentionally memorizing the feeling to keep it with all the other times. Something else to hold dear, something to stoke all those what ifs just as much as why not even as he wills it away without much luck. He could still add more. He could.
Instead he leans in to kiss her forehead in an echo of earlier even if he's the only one who knows it and lets his lips linger again. It'll have to be enough. There's been so much time, certainly, but there's also still time to figure it out in favor of letting it go for now to settle in for the night.
This time Claude doesn't remember falling asleep. He does, and time passes, and days pass, until there's a stay in the hospital which has him finding even more ways to escape.
But when the time comes, finally being out and back home isn't exactly the relief he'd hoped it would be. That's something he'd half-expected: familiar faces and a secure place to be helps when everything about moving from one location to yet another was jarring, including standing in his room at the inn looking at things he hadn't touched in weeks. Maybe that makes it even easier to step back into a routine to keep himself moving to grab onto some semblance of normalcy.
Of course, that also means being around less at night when he takes back to roaming Cadens between stopping at libraries to find new books, stopping in at places he'd volunteered to see how things have been and browsing stores, and going for walks just to enjoy being outside. There's a chance he should invite others to come with him, but it's easier - he tells himself - to take the time to be alone for a bit.
On this particular evening, though, Claude returns back to the inn roughly around dinnertime and when he lets himself into their apartment, at first he thinks no one's there based on how quiet it is. He kicks his boots off at the door while taking off his satchel and starts to head to his room before he catches a glimpse of familiar pink hair in the sitting area and changes course. ]
Oh, hey. [ Said as he comes around the side of the couch to drop down into the seat next to Hilda with a smile. ] Hope you weren't enjoying being all by yourself since I'm here to disrupt it for you.