flora
The sound of Kaisel’s voice draws her head up, confusion knitting between her brows in the moment before it softens into something smaller, almost uncertain, because hadn’t this been what he’d wanted? Silence on the subject of Jack, a relief from the ways his name still bloomed like bruises between them? But then his lips press to her forehead and her breath catches, a quiet squeak of air slipping free as if her ribs had finally loosened their grip, and she melts into the warmth of his hands without hesitation.
Had he not already tugged her forward she would have found her way into his arms anyway, too full of ache and wanting to resist the gravity of him now. She lets herself be turned, lets herself be gathered, and as her bare legs draw up against her stomach, her arms wrap fiercely around Kaisel's to anchor them against her chest, to bind them together like she could hold this steady just by proximity. Her head tips against his, her cheek pressing into the curve of his face, and every breath she draws feels like it's trying to match his rhythm, like if she listens closely enough to the shape of his heart she can quiet the noise still ringing in hers.
Likely Kaisel will feel the curve of her smile before he sees it, the way it lifts against his temple as he asks her to floor with him. It slips through her like the warmth of a familiar current, not unlike the night on the Sugartide after the pool party, when he’d collapsed onto the bench and she had followed without thinking, like a tide pulled to shore. Twisting in his arms now, her spine giving a quiet pop in protest as she turns but doesn’t let go, Flora whispers softly against his cheek, "I will always floor with you," she whispers against his skin, the words delicate as petals, her lips brushing over the edge of his cheek in soft, almost-kisses as if anchoring the promise in the warmth between them. And gods, how she wishes she wasn’t so often the reason he needed someone to fall with in the first place.
Though Flora wants to promise Kaisel everything he asks, there are some truths that don’t feel like they should ever be spoken aloud. Some, like the reasons she loved Jack or the causes behind her bruises, will always feel like knives no matter how carefully they’re handed over. And Kaisel has never deserved to be cut by things she’s already survived. "I think we should stop talking about Jack," she says gently, not as a way to evade, but as a mercy, for both of them.
Twisting again between the bracket of his thighs in order to properly face him, Flora lifts a hand to cradle his cheek, her thumb smoothing tenderly beside his mouth while her gaze settles on his, copper and seafoam searching one another in the hush between apologies and understanding. "You were right. Torchline’s going to be fine," she says, voice still soft, but steadier. "We’re going to be fine."
Her fingers trail lightly down from his cheek to rest over his heart. "There’s no one else I want you to be," she tells him, earnest and unwavering. "No one's footprints I want you to follow, nothing to measure up against except for you and me." Kaisel is hers, fully, wholly, and she wants what they are building together to be theirs alone.
But even as she says it, an apology still clings to her, not as guilt exactly but as a lingering sense of responsibility. Her breath shakes slightly as she exhales, because none of this would’ve hurt him if she’d just kept her mouth shut to begin with. "I only found out today that Jack left for good," she says quietly, the words heavy now but no longer sharp. "And with Hadama stepping down too...it just felt like a lot." The words come quieter now, shaped by exhaustion and release rather than defence, her feet bracing against the floor again as she shifts even closer, curling herself more tightly into him. "I don't think it would have hit the same if it wasn't all at once."
Had he not already tugged her forward she would have found her way into his arms anyway, too full of ache and wanting to resist the gravity of him now. She lets herself be turned, lets herself be gathered, and as her bare legs draw up against her stomach, her arms wrap fiercely around Kaisel's to anchor them against her chest, to bind them together like she could hold this steady just by proximity. Her head tips against his, her cheek pressing into the curve of his face, and every breath she draws feels like it's trying to match his rhythm, like if she listens closely enough to the shape of his heart she can quiet the noise still ringing in hers.
Likely Kaisel will feel the curve of her smile before he sees it, the way it lifts against his temple as he asks her to floor with him. It slips through her like the warmth of a familiar current, not unlike the night on the Sugartide after the pool party, when he’d collapsed onto the bench and she had followed without thinking, like a tide pulled to shore. Twisting in his arms now, her spine giving a quiet pop in protest as she turns but doesn’t let go, Flora whispers softly against his cheek, "I will always floor with you," she whispers against his skin, the words delicate as petals, her lips brushing over the edge of his cheek in soft, almost-kisses as if anchoring the promise in the warmth between them. And gods, how she wishes she wasn’t so often the reason he needed someone to fall with in the first place.
Though Flora wants to promise Kaisel everything he asks, there are some truths that don’t feel like they should ever be spoken aloud. Some, like the reasons she loved Jack or the causes behind her bruises, will always feel like knives no matter how carefully they’re handed over. And Kaisel has never deserved to be cut by things she’s already survived. "I think we should stop talking about Jack," she says gently, not as a way to evade, but as a mercy, for both of them.
Twisting again between the bracket of his thighs in order to properly face him, Flora lifts a hand to cradle his cheek, her thumb smoothing tenderly beside his mouth while her gaze settles on his, copper and seafoam searching one another in the hush between apologies and understanding. "You were right. Torchline’s going to be fine," she says, voice still soft, but steadier. "We’re going to be fine."
Her fingers trail lightly down from his cheek to rest over his heart. "There’s no one else I want you to be," she tells him, earnest and unwavering. "No one's footprints I want you to follow, nothing to measure up against except for you and me." Kaisel is hers, fully, wholly, and she wants what they are building together to be theirs alone.
But even as she says it, an apology still clings to her, not as guilt exactly but as a lingering sense of responsibility. Her breath shakes slightly as she exhales, because none of this would’ve hurt him if she’d just kept her mouth shut to begin with. "I only found out today that Jack left for good," she says quietly, the words heavy now but no longer sharp. "And with Hadama stepping down too...it just felt like a lot." The words come quieter now, shaped by exhaustion and release rather than defence, her feet bracing against the floor again as she shifts even closer, curling herself more tightly into him. "I don't think it would have hit the same if it wasn't all at once."
lust's a liar, a short lived fire
it isn't what you and I are at all
it isn't what you and I are at all
