[ he listens throughout, trying desperately to keep focused as they approach the skypark. brighter up here but quieter, too, with a bench within reach for her to catch her breath. only she says enough for it to click. of course she's from the past. why would she be in sync with him, when none of the others are? ]
God, I'm so bloody thick.
[ stupid, not smart enough, not quick enough to notice the changes in her (the jumpiness she only displayed after returning from maveth). why should she remember their dinner date, kissing him in the lab, holding hands in the snow and saying some things are inevitable. they've been separated by the leagues of water and lightyears of outer space, why not memory itself?
to his credit, he hides the way his heart stutters and stops, keeping it out of his features but for how he scrunches his eyes shut and breathes.
'course she'll still feel the slash of each word, wearing down his contro, so he pulls his hand free, mumbling a rushed apology. jemma, struggling to survive on maveth for six months, with will daniels, handsome and good and there — and it's not that she fell for him that re-opens his wounds; it's that fitz couldn't save him for her (that he'll have to tell her all over again). even so, he drags both hands over his face and back through his short curls before he can grasp her by the shoulder again (protected against the bond). it's not fair. this always happens. to her, to him, to them. the damned cosmos doesn't want them to be together, despite how hard he's fighting to be the man she deserves. ]
I did. [ hoarse, ] I always do. Because you and I, we're — [ constantly torn apart and worn down, dragged to hell and back with miles still to go. ] — unstoppable, when we're together. We even have that dinner. [ a laugh, caught between darkly humorous and downright nervous. ] It's really, um, sort of bad 'cause you're not ready, and I try to do this grand romantic gesture, booking out the whole place, so it's quiet, but since when do we do posh dinners, anyway? But we figure that out, too.
[ his shoulders lift, helpless, as he pulls them to the side on this beautiful day, surrounded by green. ]
And we go back 'cause we have to get Will. [ she has to know that, or she'll torture herself every night, wondering how he's doing. ] But that's almost two years ago for me.
[ he ducks his head. can't get worked up, when he's the local on this side of the multiverse. ]
no subject
God, I'm so bloody thick.
[ stupid, not smart enough, not quick enough to notice the changes in her (the jumpiness she only displayed after returning from maveth). why should she remember their dinner date, kissing him in the lab, holding hands in the snow and saying some things are inevitable. they've been separated by the leagues of water and lightyears of outer space, why not memory itself?
to his credit, he hides the way his heart stutters and stops, keeping it out of his features but for how he scrunches his eyes shut and breathes.
'course she'll still feel the slash of each word, wearing down his contro, so he pulls his hand free, mumbling a rushed apology. jemma, struggling to survive on maveth for six months, with will daniels, handsome and good and there — and it's not that she fell for him that re-opens his wounds; it's that fitz couldn't save him for her (that he'll have to tell her all over again). even so, he drags both hands over his face and back through his short curls before he can grasp her by the shoulder again (protected against the bond). it's not fair. this always happens. to her, to him, to them. the damned cosmos doesn't want them to be together, despite how hard he's fighting to be the man she deserves. ]
I did. [ hoarse, ] I always do. Because you and I, we're — [ constantly torn apart and worn down, dragged to hell and back with miles still to go. ] — unstoppable, when we're together. We even have that dinner. [ a laugh, caught between darkly humorous and downright nervous. ] It's really, um, sort of bad 'cause you're not ready, and I try to do this grand romantic gesture, booking out the whole place, so it's quiet, but since when do we do posh dinners, anyway? But we figure that out, too.
[ his shoulders lift, helpless, as he pulls them to the side on this beautiful day, surrounded by green. ]
And we go back 'cause we have to get Will. [ she has to know that, or she'll torture herself every night, wondering how he's doing. ] But that's almost two years ago for me.
[ he ducks his head. can't get worked up, when he's the local on this side of the multiverse. ]