she follows his gaze to the door. hurt flits too quickly for him to notice with his back still turned, that he'd put up barbs as soon as she asked. but he looks strung out and exhausted. gods, she doesn't even know what time it is. 

she laces her fingers together, looks down at them. her stomach grumbles, reminding her for the umpteenth time that she's starving and to please eat something now. 

"i just want to make sure we won't have an angry ex knocking down our door." it's not the whole truth, but it's some of it. 

KING WAYLAND

☉

the proverbial door slams shut in her face. they've never parsed the meaning of the word together; every time she tries to grasp at a string thought to tether her to him, it comes up slack. held nowhere and to nothing. so her jaw sets and when he rounds on her with a hardened gaze, she looks away with a scowl. 

"we both made choices. you changed things, king. and i don't know what to do or what to say because she's your child." she swallows. "and i don't know how i'm meant to fit into all of this."

KING WAYLAND

☉

"and i'm not saying you should," she says, exasperated. she at least has the decency to turn her gaze towards him without dropping hungrily to the food. her stomach, however, has no such reservations, and growls loudly enough for the both of them to hear. a light rose colors her cheeks and she's thankful for all the bruising. 

is it even right to have her here? their home isn't exactly childproof. king'll rip the throat out of the first drunk to look at her the wrong way, but what if she wanders off? 

she reaches for a glass of water and some orange juice first, ignoring the heaping plate of food for the time being. stubborn, this one. 

"good," she says with a heartless laugh. "i won't be a stranger then."

KING WAYLAND

☉

she's not talking in circles. they're skirting around everything that matters, but it's a dangerous edge and she's starting to lose her footing. so the plate clatters down and she stands abruptly. one hand makes for the back of his neck; the other, his jaw.

"you can undo me. don't you get that?" a plea teases the edge of her words as she rips the rest of her walls down like a shed skin. "it's driving me insane not to hear you say the thing i want to hear most in this world because it's beginning to dawn on me that if you can't love me, if you can't give me all the pieces of you, it won't matter.

"because i will still give you all of me."

KING WAYLAND

☉

where his are conflicted, hers are open. raw. pale and wild and light with exhaustion, but so deeply set in her way. she has had her doubts before; hell, her last three years, doubt has moved into her attic uninvited. it has paralyzed her into inaction. but when she looks upon him, she knows her place. she knows where she fits. finally.

she does not know if she can bear true heartbreak.

and so her lip trembles. slender fingers tighten on his neck, the side of his face. her thumb presses the corner of his lips. she smiles a wan, sad smile. 

"well, i haven't made it very easy for you either."

KING WAYLAND

☉

it doesn't matter, in that moment, that her lips are scabbed over from splitting. it doesn't matter that half of her face is purple or her shoulder is ruined or that the future is unsteady and daunting. his words are a rapture and every fiber of her being melts. 

he's not allowed an exhale because her lips are on his in that needy, incessant way of hers. copper hits her tongue immediately as sore skin cracks, but unfortunately for him, she doesn't care. all her pangs and aches are a million miles away because she is kissing him and nothing else matters. 

he loves her and nothing else matters. 

KING WAYLAND

☉

his neck is hers. his jaw is hers. and his tongue - well, he takes that away before she can claim that too. the low growl of stubborn refusal dies as he physically puts distance between them and she looks up at him with half a glower, all smile.

she sits because he asks oh-so-nicely. no, but mostly it's because her elation has done a whole other thing entirely: unlocked her hunger. the food isn't as hot as it was five minutes ago, of course, but she doesn't really care as she starts munching on strips of bacon and sausage patties. 

"i won't be as easily dissuaded later," she says, taking a napkin and pressing it firmly against her still-bloody lip.

KING WAYLAND

☉