driftfleet | Tourist, May I?

[She lifts herself up to look at him. Her face is about as close as it can be for that kind of thing.]

You know I love you, right? For you? For all the Winning?

The Winning's easy, it's the Losing that's a challenge.

[ he can't take that look in her eyes. god, he feels like a schmuck. why does he have feelings? why can't he just -- be more of a stereotypical male?

he strokes her cheek. ]

I know. [ sometimes, he has a hard time figuring out the why, but when she looks at him like this - so desperate to keep him - mirroring a look he knows he's given kara and her so very often - it's impossible to refute. and he never wants to try. if this turns out to be a house of cards that'll fall apart in his hands - he doesn't want to poke at it. he just wants to be happy, for as long as he gets to. ] I'm the luckiest man in the multiverse.

[ are you ready for a smitten look, kitty, cuz one is coming your way either way. ]

[The smitten look does manage to start soothing her fears. Some of that concern melts away and she leans in to kiss him very tenderly and lightly.] No losing.

[She likes that he has feelings. Everyone has feelings. She just worries when she doesn't know what they are.]

[ he kisses back, happy to be spared for at least a moment from the need to figure out the right thing to say.

he hates that he has feelings, they usually hurt. if he's lucky, they only hurt him. if he isn't, the people he loves the most end up as collateral damage. ]

[She transitions to another hug when they part for breath.] I know communication is good. I wish... [She pauses trying to regather herself.] I feel like the things I have to communicate a lot of the time are just so...broken.

[ he rubs circles into her back. he knows where she's coming from - both out of experience (one of the reasons why communicating is so hard on him), and because he listens to her. horror story after horror story. the words 'I'm sorry' feel like they've lost their meaning, he's been saying them so much. ]

Talking about it is a pretty good way to piece things back together.

I guess if you're fresh out of all the king's horses and all the king's men. [She starts rubbing his back maybe just to comfort herself.]

They didn't do much good anyway. They should've known - you wanna put a shattered egg back together - you go to a nerd. We've got years of model building experience.

[ he smiles, hoping he's helping. ]

[He's always helping. Even when it's supposed to be other other way since she's the one who probably freaked him out here.] You know, no one ever actually says Humpty Dumpty is an egg.

[ he's far more comfortable in the helper role anyway. it's still difficult for him to accept help from her, when she's been through so much. his burdens are nothing in comparison. ]

Sure they do, when they give animation instructions.

I'm preeeeetty sure it was written before animation was a thing. [She has no idea when it was written, but it sounds like a safe bet and they can't look it up from here anyway.]

I'm a Millennial, I'm not even supposed to know books exist.

[ he shrugs. ]

You're a what now? [She kisses his neck.]

[ that is very distracting, kitty. he hums contently, tilting his head for better access. ]

The latest incarnation of 'young people these days'.

Does that make me a millennial too? Because I know all about books.

Unless your time travel also included yearly leaps I'm unaware of -- yeah. Congratulations, you're a member of generation spoiled mindless drone.

This is very exciting. What should we do to celebrate?

Hmmmn -- well, the appropriate celebration would be lying around doing nothing. But we're rebels - [ he smiles and leans in for a kiss. ]

[She kisses back, looking amused after a moment.] So we're going to celebrate the same way we celebrate seeing each other and getting ready for bed and waking up?

If it ain't baroque - [ he smiles, a little obnoxiously, before shrugging ]

How d'you wanna celebrate?

Mmmm...you could tell me why you had blows to the head that required CT scans. [YOU THOUGHT SHE FORGOT! No, of course she would just bring it up right before potential sex. Of course she would. You're the luckiest man in the multiverse. /laughtrack.]

-- it's not a very celebratory story.

[ that smile kind of freezes uncomfortably. it's his own fault. he should have pretended he was kidding. but she asked, so he shrugs, he'll share. he won't outright lie at the question. ]

Basically, when your dad orphans a bunch of kids - you're not gonna be Mr. popular at an orphanage.

[ did he make light of it enough? he could go lighter. ] Scan was for legal reasons, wasn't that bad, really. Dunno why I brought it up.

I didn't really think it would be. [She gently strokes a hand through his hair.] Did they transfer you or at least keep you safe after that?

I learned to keep a low profile.

[ he shrugs with a smile. never bother anyone, always be helpful, smile - even when it's the last thing he feels like doing. some of it is just the way he always was. other parts are lessons that merged so completely into his very core that he can't really tell them apart anymore anyway. ]

And you still do. [She leans in touching her forehead to his.] Are you going to be offended and emasculated if I tell you that I want to keep you safe forever so you can keep whatever profile you want?

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