g'raha's head is pillowed on @giriure's thighs, her fingers carding through his untied hair in careful ministrations. when she cups his face, he sleepily reaches to twine his fingers with hers. "you are loved, you are not alone, and you deserve to know that," she says in a whisper. for a moment, the only answer is the idle brush of his thumb across her knuckles. then he blinks up at her.
"loved, am i?" he leans into her touch. she's warm... so warm. "after all this time, i fear i've become rather out of practice accepting such things." his eyes close. "it's... strange." a swallow. "i spent so many years teaching myself not to want it. not because i believed myself incapable of being loved, perhaps... but because it seemed a luxury. one i had neither the time nor right to indulge." his thumb continues to stroke the back of their hand. the words come easier than they ought to. one confession gives way to another; old wants and older sorrows alike unspool from the depths of his heart beneath their tender hands. "it was simpler to devote myself wholly to the work before me. simpler to accept that whatever became of me in the end was of little consequence, so long as everyone else reached tomorrow." his voice begins to waver. "i spent years convincing myself i had made peace with that. that if i was remembered, it would be enough. that if i could help bring about a better future, nothing more was required."
i believed it, too.
when he opens his eyes again, there is something achingly vulnerable in them. "then i met you again." he slowly rises from her lap, this time with one hand cupping her cheek. "and suddenly i found myself wanting things. time. a home. mornings spent doing nothing in particular." his gaze lowers. "...the chance to stay." a soft laugh escapes him. "it is... rather humiliating, in hindsight. to discover that beneath all those lofty ambitions and noble sacrifices was simply a man who wished to be loved. a man who wished not to be alone." he looks up. "and now you sit here and tell me that i am loved as if it were the simplest truth in the world." his lips lift, but only just. "if i'm honest, mana..." he inches closer. his hand travels from their cheek to their chin. "i do not know if i shall ever grow accustomed to hearing it." his thumb grazes her bottom lip. he bridges the rest of the distance. "but i should very much like to try."
