[ he loves this man, kaveh thinks. he loves this man the way the river will part for the weight of the mountain that splits it, he loves this man the way trees will wrap themselves around ancient columns that once displaced them. it is not the kind of love that midnight wants; it is not the kind of love that midnight needs. but it is the only kind of love that kaveh knows how to give, the kind of love that takes what's there and builds for it, transforms it, carves out a space for it in bedrock and canopy and the realm of dreams. kaveh will build a castle for midnight. he will fill the cavern in midnight with stars.
he will do so to make room for all the other things that must also fit inside that cavern. he will take midnight's curled form, and make room for midnight inside of midnight. he wants midnight to sleep beneath the stars. ]
Flattery. [ kaveh says, and laughs. ] I prefer a roost that will be honest with me. Tell me, sometime, of what has happened to you. I want to hear all of it. What you experienced in the haunted house, why is it that you chase after what hurts yourself the most. I will ask you this again when you are less comfortable, as it will not be a comfortable question. I would demand it of you because even if you go to a place where I cannot reach, I want to know of it so that I can scold you for having done so, and then thank you for having come back. And then I will go to the place where you once went so I can gather up the pieces of you that you left behind so as to return them to you. I cannot make you whole, but I won't have you be any less than what you are now.
[ kaveh presses midnight down into the bed. he is being unfair, he knows. the cot creaks with it, the shifting of their combined weight. kaveh kisses midnight. he slips the phone out from beneath the pillow. that's the first thing he does. ]
But that's another time. [ kaveh's brow arches. ] I want you to sleep. If you don't, you will put up entirely too many slat walls, and then I will need to be more cross with you than I already am.
[ a ziptie comes out of his pocket. kaveh reaches around with a single hand for their wrists. he binds them together, wrist-to-wrist, and pulls the ziptie proper.
then, he flicks open midnight's phone for the alarm. ]
Sleep. I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you.
no subject
he will do so to make room for all the other things that must also fit inside that cavern. he will take midnight's curled form, and make room for midnight inside of midnight. he wants midnight to sleep beneath the stars. ]
Flattery. [ kaveh says, and laughs. ] I prefer a roost that will be honest with me. Tell me, sometime, of what has happened to you. I want to hear all of it. What you experienced in the haunted house, why is it that you chase after what hurts yourself the most. I will ask you this again when you are less comfortable, as it will not be a comfortable question. I would demand it of you because even if you go to a place where I cannot reach, I want to know of it so that I can scold you for having done so, and then thank you for having come back. And then I will go to the place where you once went so I can gather up the pieces of you that you left behind so as to return them to you. I cannot make you whole, but I won't have you be any less than what you are now.
[ kaveh presses midnight down into the bed. he is being unfair, he knows. the cot creaks with it, the shifting of their combined weight. kaveh kisses midnight. he slips the phone out from beneath the pillow. that's the first thing he does. ]
But that's another time. [ kaveh's brow arches. ] I want you to sleep. If you don't, you will put up entirely too many slat walls, and then I will need to be more cross with you than I already am.
[ a ziptie comes out of his pocket. kaveh reaches around with a single hand for their wrists. he binds them together, wrist-to-wrist, and pulls the ziptie proper.
then, he flicks open midnight's phone for the alarm. ]
Sleep. I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you.