[ The seconds tick by again like years adding up to a small eternity after the last word leaves his mouth. Is it enough? Is it too little too late? Being able to consider all the possibilities at once has never felt so much like a curse as it does right now when tears continue to slide down her cheeks. Like before, it's a reminder he's placed them there as he dries away the ones he can reach.
What would the Claude of a few months ago from when they'd sat on the shores in Aquila think? What would his self from prior to arriving here think beyond being shocked for so many reasons over what'd come to pass? Would those changes be surprising as they felt now to look back on? Would all of that guardedness had been worth it for what it'd nearly - and still could - cost him, or would he have not so foolishly let something so valuable to him almost slip away? For so long he's lived as if there are no guarantees except the ones he'd leveraged for himself, and for too long this had seemed so certain despite so many unknowns in what they'd kept from each other.
It's brought back into focus now as Hilda says she's scared even while pressing kisses that feel like sparks against his palm with a promise that's more than he could've hoped for. The same can be said for when she moves closer, and it's easy then to let go of her hand. The loss of contact is temporary since he replaces it with placing it along her jaw to cradle it gently. For once the pause isn't to draw things out or to tease as it might have been on other nights, in other times besides this one when this is meant for time to appreciate a person he loves dearly.
There's so much more that he could say. He could tell her that this is all terrifying to him for different or possibly even the same reasons, that there'd been no lie when he'd told her she was the first person he'd ever truly let in. That even if there was still more to go he wants her to know the rest, but that story doesn't stop there when there's more of it to write together. All things which should and will be said, but there's more time to say them. Will be other times to say them and for now, until it's the right moments for each thought in turn, it will be enough to let them speak in another way.
There's no hesitation when Claude leans in to close that small gap left between them to meet her mouth with his for a kiss. Long overdue and yet somehow perfectly timed for everything they've been through, and he wills all those dreams to pass through it while gently deepening the kiss slightly but not further as they open a door to rediscovering each other in what's unsaid. Things that finally aren't unrequited but instead promised with hope behind them because while it feels like home as it always has: this is a chance to build a new one together. ]
no subject
What would the Claude of a few months ago from when they'd sat on the shores in Aquila think? What would his self from prior to arriving here think beyond being shocked for so many reasons over what'd come to pass? Would those changes be surprising as they felt now to look back on? Would all of that guardedness had been worth it for what it'd nearly - and still could - cost him, or would he have not so foolishly let something so valuable to him almost slip away? For so long he's lived as if there are no guarantees except the ones he'd leveraged for himself, and for too long this had seemed so certain despite so many unknowns in what they'd kept from each other.
It's brought back into focus now as Hilda says she's scared even while pressing kisses that feel like sparks against his palm with a promise that's more than he could've hoped for. The same can be said for when she moves closer, and it's easy then to let go of her hand. The loss of contact is temporary since he replaces it with placing it along her jaw to cradle it gently. For once the pause isn't to draw things out or to tease as it might have been on other nights, in other times besides this one when this is meant for time to appreciate a person he loves dearly.
There's so much more that he could say. He could tell her that this is all terrifying to him for different or possibly even the same reasons, that there'd been no lie when he'd told her she was the first person he'd ever truly let in. That even if there was still more to go he wants her to know the rest, but that story doesn't stop there when there's more of it to write together. All things which should and will be said, but there's more time to say them. Will be other times to say them and for now, until it's the right moments for each thought in turn, it will be enough to let them speak in another way.
There's no hesitation when Claude leans in to close that small gap left between them to meet her mouth with his for a kiss. Long overdue and yet somehow perfectly timed for everything they've been through, and he wills all those dreams to pass through it while gently deepening the kiss slightly but not further as they open a door to rediscovering each other in what's unsaid. Things that finally aren't unrequited but instead promised with hope behind them because while it feels like home as it always has: this is a chance to build a new one together. ]