#laughs gently

((I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case. Though it does bring up another interesting question:

If the human souls were allowed to roam free, would they have turned into ghosts, or would they have disappeared?

Though the sniper’s brow is raised in confusion at the apparent challenge, to say how he loved the other without actually using the word ‘love’ in his phrasing- he wasn’t one to back down from such a challenge. He smiles at the other, putting his gun down and giving Ben is undivided attention. Jay guesses it also means any snynonyms of such a word, else he would’ve been a smartass.

“You’re the feeling I get when a sharpened knife slices through flesh, when the heartbeat dies off into silence and when whispers become pleas to my ears- you’re the feeling of water dripping down a crusted face with the relief and the thirst of somebody who has been denied water for days on end. You’re the first drink of the day and the calmness of night when a babe goes to sleep…”

Gruesome, yes, but it is nonetheless true. He shuffles closer to the other, the smile still playing on his lips as he searches for more to offer.

“You’re the freedom somebody feels when atop a moutain, overlooking the world with pride, the terror in the hearts of those surrounded by monster and the grip of reality that seems to ground me into this plane of existance. The reason behind the idiocy despite being full of such yourself, and the gentle coating of a plaster on a papercut. You’re like a body’s platelets.

… You fix me.”

The winged boy’s feathers seem to ruffle at the challenge— unsure how he could even phrase this without using the one word that could explain it all in a nice and neat package for the other to hold. He supposes he’ll just have to open that package himself and lay out the contents of it for the other to judge.

“You’re an elation, the feeling of wind breezing through my feathers mid-flight, the excitement of a dive a-and the security of being held so close you could believe you were already physically one person…”

He tucks his wings in more, smiling and seemingly shrinking in shyness as he goes on to explain the various feelings he gets whenever he’s around you.

“You’re the clouds on a hot day shielding the unrelenting sun on my face and the patter of rain on a window and I’ve never wanted to be around somebody to this degree before. You make my heart flutter in such a manner I’m sure I’d choke on it as it lodged in my throat but somehow you ease it back down into my chest- only for it to end up in my stomach, filling me with tiny butterflies with every kiss you lay on me…”

Jay finds his hands entwining themselves as he shuffles and smiles dreamily to himself, before his eyes flick up and observe you— he may be small, but he is still a predatory bird, and God does he have his eyes on you.