On this winter's night with you

Not nearly as aware as he should be—especially during LongNight—Remi was entirely unaware that anyone else had entered the room with him until he felt the arms sliding around his midsection. Tensing slightly, Remi turned just enough to see the shock of red hair. As he did, he immediately relaxed, and pressed his forehead back against his arm with a muffled sort of sigh-sob. Reaching his free hand around to grasp the arm on his chest, Remi’s clasp was surprisingly strong, desperate, and sad, somehow. “No.” Remi whispered, swallowing down a wellspring of emotion that wanted to erupt from his throat. Turning in Sam’s arms, Remi’s hands rounded around the man, forcing him against the alchemist’s chest so that he could tilt his head and bury it against Sam’s shoulder. “I knew her.” Remi continued, his voice still barely more than the barest of whispers into the cloth of Sarm’s shirt, as his arms intertwined against Sam’s back pressing him ever closer. “We went outside the Wall together...we..” The alchemist’s words sounded weightier than the words themselves portrayed. But of course they did. It wasn’t as though Sam understood what it was to be beyond the wall. He didn’t know what a rare and dangerous privilege it had been, nor could he understand the magnitude of a commoner and a duchess strolling in such a way. “...swam...and...when we came out animals had moved our clothes and...the man...he had...” But Remi’s remembered memory dissipated as he clutched Sam closer, his breath warm and sad against the bookmaker’s neck as the hands around the small of his back rose into a sad and needy hug. “Promise you will always say goodbye, Sam. Please—“ Remi all but begged, sounding far too serious and emotional all too soon. “Please.” He repeated, pressing a kiss against the side of Sam’s neck, his fingers around his midsection only tightening with his silent plea. R E M I I followed your ashes into outer space