[ if they return to their city, it will be the end. midnight says this as gently as one does, passing into the unbroken night. kaveh closes his eyes in turn. the back of his eyelids burn. they are intertwined too much so for midnight to not feel it - the leap in kaveh's pulse, the fury that burns in it, then too-quick drumming of emotions that couldn't possibly be contained in a mortal body.

kaveh is furious. this is not unusual. kaveh knows that midnight knows - and midnight knows that kaveh knows that midnight knows, and so that hierarchy of understanding maintains itself on a three-point plane. it will collapse. it must. this is the mortifying ordeal of being known. but kaveh allows it today, on the cusp of a day five, midnight's kiss along his wrist. ]

I don't want that to be their end. I don't want to lose this fury in me. And even if they should accept it; even if the rest of the universe were to accept it, I don't think I can, Midnight.

[ kaveh shakes his head. his grip in midnight's hair relents. the apology comes carding through, nail upon scalp. his nails are red today, or rather, they are still red. netzach did a wonderful job of it. ] Says you, though. You. There's nobody more lonely than you, Midnight.