He listens, and he does not apologize. He does not promise that it will never come again. He does not pull Alucard to him and cling to him for dear life. He follows the rules of the game.
(he hurt them. He hurt them both, in every conceivable way, and all because he made a flawed plan. All because he failed at the one thing they trusted him to do.)
Instead he waits for Alucard to finish. Waits a moment longer for him to describe betrayal. Hurt. Anything of the sort. It doesn't come. The whole thing is pragmatic, as it always was. Perhaps there were those things, but that would be a different game. Those aren't the ghosts that need to be chased away. And so he leans in, and he is very slow, more cautious than he has been with anything in his life. He moves toward the place that he tore open less than a year ago.
He stops a fraction of an inch away, waiting so see if Alucard flinches or pulls back, before pressing his lips softly against the crook of Alucard's elbow. And it's the most terrifying thing he's ever done. ]
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He listens, and he does not apologize. He does not promise that it will never come again. He does not pull Alucard to him and cling to him for dear life. He follows the rules of the game.
(he hurt them. He hurt them both, in every conceivable way, and all because he made a flawed plan. All because he failed at the one thing they trusted him to do.)
Instead he waits for Alucard to finish. Waits a moment longer for him to describe betrayal. Hurt. Anything of the sort. It doesn't come. The whole thing is pragmatic, as it always was. Perhaps there were those things, but that would be a different game. Those aren't the ghosts that need to be chased away. And so he leans in, and he is very slow, more cautious than he has been with anything in his life. He moves toward the place that he tore open less than a year ago.
He stops a fraction of an inch away, waiting so see if Alucard flinches or pulls back, before pressing his lips softly against the crook of Alucard's elbow. And it's the most terrifying thing he's ever done. ]