[Here they are on the floor in the den, surrounded in a weak healing light, tangled up in each other as much as they can. It's not the most comfortable — Elsword's head is cocked at a weird angle, and he imagines Add is faring no better in terms of good surfaces to be lying on — but they're safe. For now, they're blissfully safe, wrapped up in each other as scrapes and cuts slowly stitch themselves up. Elsword doesn't know when he shifted closer, nor when he tangled their legs together — did they collapse like that? — but he remains stone-still so not to disturb the way they are now, even when Add's fingers trail over the exposed skin on his back. It tickles. It feels pleasant and warm. Add's fingertips fit perfectly in the dip created where his spine arches, and he doesn't immediately want them to move.
Carefully, he starts working off a gauntlet behind Add's back. There's hardly much of it left anyway, and the dented metal is beginning to choke the circulation in his fingertips.]
I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have blown up on you, and I shouldn't have left you that night, and I should've just sucked it up and came to see you sooner. We might have had time to prepare for all this if I did.
[As he says this, there's a dull thunk of a gauntlet being freed and falling to the floor. Elsword's hand immediately goes for Add's hair, fingertips threading through the tangles near his scalp. Perhaps he'll be lucky enough to comb it out and braid it again when this is all over.
Elsword let's that thought hang in the air for a minute longer, completely silent. Then, his fingers free themselves from the clinging strands, and his thumb draws a line over Add's cheekbone. He swears he's wiping away a spot of blood, but it lingers; his palm rests against Add's cheek. Something feels... something feels, in this moment, but it's deeply buried under Autumn's fallen leaves, being stamped down by the angry foot of the Illuminous Phenomenon.]
...You don't have to tell me anything that happened. [He finally says into the silence; he knows already. Add doesn't need to think about it any longer.] I know you don't want to. But... One day, I hope you'll let me in a little more. I'm not the best at advice, but I'm pretty good at listening, right?
[When he smiles, he hopes it looks real, and not like the muted half-grins he's given these past few years.]
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Carefully, he starts working off a gauntlet behind Add's back. There's hardly much of it left anyway, and the dented metal is beginning to choke the circulation in his fingertips.]
I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have blown up on you, and I shouldn't have left you that night, and I should've just sucked it up and came to see you sooner. We might have had time to prepare for all this if I did.
[As he says this, there's a dull thunk of a gauntlet being freed and falling to the floor. Elsword's hand immediately goes for Add's hair, fingertips threading through the tangles near his scalp. Perhaps he'll be lucky enough to comb it out and braid it again when this is all over.
Elsword let's that thought hang in the air for a minute longer, completely silent. Then, his fingers free themselves from the clinging strands, and his thumb draws a line over Add's cheekbone. He swears he's wiping away a spot of blood, but it lingers; his palm rests against Add's cheek. Something feels... something feels, in this moment, but it's deeply buried under Autumn's fallen leaves, being stamped down by the angry foot of the Illuminous Phenomenon.]
...You don't have to tell me anything that happened. [He finally says into the silence; he knows already. Add doesn't need to think about it any longer.] I know you don't want to. But... One day, I hope you'll let me in a little more. I'm not the best at advice, but I'm pretty good at listening, right?
[When he smiles, he hopes it looks real, and not like the muted half-grins he's given these past few years.]