Let's get away with murder.

"Is it a lie if I was previously unaware of a piece of information?"

Angel peeked up from behind their sketchbook, seeing Lee immediately avert his gaze in favor of darting his eyes to the wall, then the floor, and back to the wall again. It wasn't anything unfamiliar, Lee always seemed to avoid eye contact even in the most comfortable of situations.

This wasn't an aversion to eye contact this time, however. No, this was an expression Angel had come to see as Lee's 'please don't leave me' face, one that had become less frequent as their relationship has grown.

They pulled the end of their pencil they'd been chewing on out of their mouth, instead tapping it against their cheek in thought. "No, I don't think that counts as a lie." Angel shifted where they sat, setting their sketchbook down and instead just holding their knees to their chest. It had always been comfortable sitting somewhat strangely like this. "To be a lie I think you'd need to like... purposefully hide something from me or something." The topic of truthfulness and trust was always important when it came to their history, so they made sure to give their boyfriend the most undivided attention they could as a guy with unmedicated ADHD.

It had been some time since the events that led to the pair fleeing across the country, living in a cottage Angel could only have ever dreamed about owning. It had given the two of them a lot of time to think about things, about themselves, about what they were together.

And it ended up with time that Angel realized after everything was done, Lee was still the guy he started falling for even before that life-changing Friday. The "this guy is kind of your doctor" had never been a turn-off, it certainly didn't keep Angel from inviting him into the bathtub with them.

And that guy he sat in the tub with, who didn't lay his eyes on them, the guy who joked with them, who shared things about himself that Angel was almost certain that no one else knew... He had never been fake. At the end of the day, after all the lies and the horror, Lee was Lee and that was what they liked about him.

No one had ever looked at them like he did. Paid attention to who Angel really was. And for fuck's sake, he was the first and only guy who didn't misgender them.

This was real. Their relationship was real. Their biggest fear had been that they'd find out that all Lee was after was their body, to use them. But it never happened. The least they could do was listen to what their boyfriend was so worried about.

"Sooo... What's the 'lie' you're so worried about?"

Lee swallowed the lump in his throat and wrung his hands. One, two, three, he squeezed down his left hand's fingers with his right. Proximal, middle, distal. Three separate phalanges to make up a single digit, save for the two in the thumb. The repetitive and rhythmic motioned to help calm his nerves.

"...I had lied once before. About my childhood dreams. The first answer was.. sanitized, to say my main dream was to be a doctor. It was true, but so was the fact that almost all I wished for as long as I can remember is death. I thought it was my greatest desire. But.." He finally laid eyes on his partner. "I don't think I want that anymore." Angel moved closer to Lee, the two of them now sitting on the bed together. They gently laid a hand on his hand, and slowly he relaxed enough to allow them to join together. The smaller man's hand was cold, but grounded him so well.

"I think what I wanted most of all.. It was probably to feel loved. Not empty, forced love, but to be truly cared for." Angel rubbed his hand gently. Lee didn't cry often, but his eyes seemed fuller as he spoke.

"Angel.."

They reached up, gently wiping a single tear that was threatening to fall with their jacket sleeve.

"Thank you for making my dreams real."

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song that inspired the title