Everest
Everest smiles and nods at her joke, the image of Mateo enthusiastically presenting something deeply inappropriate for an infant flickering through his mind with surprising clarity. "I will," he says sincerely, but even as she teases, his thoughts have already begun to spiral outward, touching on sharp edges, toxins, open flames, crowded streets, and all the unseen hazards of a world that has never had to be baby-proofed for someone who matters this much. The list forms instinctively, not as panic but as preparation, and he quietly accepts that this, too, will become part of his mental landscape.
He settles back into simply holding her for a moment, content with the weight of her against him, the shared warmth anchoring everything that threatens to tip too far ahead. When she mentions Stormbreak, he exhales softly and nods, already adjusting timelines and routes in his head. After a brief pause, he adds, careful and practical rather than anxious, "We could stop at the market first, if you want. In case the nausea gets worse. Flying might...exacerbate it." His hand shifts almost without thought, resting gently over her stomach, the contact tentative but intentional, and he leans in to press a quiet kiss to her temple.
For a long moment after, he stays there, breathing her in, the future looming and unknowable and frightening in ways he cannot yet catalogue, but no longer unthinkable.
~FIN
He settles back into simply holding her for a moment, content with the weight of her against him, the shared warmth anchoring everything that threatens to tip too far ahead. When she mentions Stormbreak, he exhales softly and nods, already adjusting timelines and routes in his head. After a brief pause, he adds, careful and practical rather than anxious, "We could stop at the market first, if you want. In case the nausea gets worse. Flying might...exacerbate it." His hand shifts almost without thought, resting gently over her stomach, the contact tentative but intentional, and he leans in to press a quiet kiss to her temple.
For a long moment after, he stays there, breathing her in, the future looming and unknowable and frightening in ways he cannot yet catalogue, but no longer unthinkable.
~FIN
I was a dead man walking,
with bloodshot eyes—right place, wrong time.
with bloodshot eyes—right place, wrong time.
