hold me like we're dying from the liquor that we drank

// and if i was the only thing you couldn't bear to lose,
i'd set fire to the wood, just so you wouldn't have to bury me too //

The confirmation, Nate’s own easy ‘I love you too’ settles whatever nerves feel like they might spark up – settling in easily and watching Nate’s gaze, scars and all, and simply breathing him in, breathing in the dusty surroundings, the boarded up window though he can’t exactly remember why it was boarded up. But that doesn’t matter, because he’s here, safe, smelling of smoke and fevers, buried into the arms of his lover, huffing a quiet laugh of surprised amusement at the comment. “We did.” He murmurs, pressing back against Haai’s side and snuggling in closer.

And then, he feels the warm and easy brushing of the Ascended’s hand along his side, and he wraps his arms tight around Nate, pressing his face into the crook of his neck. “You’re home.” He agrees, pressing the bridge of his nose against the column of Nate’s throat. “So now what? I’m too wired to sleep.” He murmurs, despite the exhaustion that weighs heavily on him. He can’t help but to feel like he’s in that state after a big event, where physically and mentally he’s tired but he’s ready to run at the drop of a hat.

Flight or fight, he supposes.

SUNJATA