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[reargunner]

ᴛᴇxᴛ | ᴀᴜᴅɪᴏ | ᴠɪᴅᴇᴏ | ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ



Leave a message if you want. I'll get back to you when I pick my comm up.

Or I won't.

Comments

[reargunner]

Yeah, I think so.

[He's not going to give one of those corny lines - have I ever lied to you?, because god, he has, he's lied a lot, but his voice carries an undeniable sincerity now. Cain hadn't been misleading Abel when he'd told him he was done lying to him.]

Are you kidding me? Anyone who thinks different is a fucking idiot.

[But he can see that Abel's struggling with his emotions. Though he doesn't disengage from him entirely, he does shift back to give him some breathing room.]

[inthebiblicalsense]

[Pressing his palms to his eyes isn't really helping stave off tears, but then Cain goes to move, and one of his hands comes out, catches his shirt, pulls him back. Stay. His grip is tight, though he hadn't yanked him so much as tried to keep him from giving him space.]

Say it again. [And maybe this isn't just about who he is outside of navigating. He's a whole ass person, outside of the Reliant, outside of what Cook and Bering orchestrated, outside of who he was supposed to be and tried to be. He just wants permission to accept it, that's all.]

So I have no more excuses, I- I believe you, It's just hard to accept it.

[reargunner]

[Abel said to say it again, so regardless of what comes next Cain elects to do that. He takes the other man's face in both hands, cradling his palms against Abel's jaw, and looks him directly in the eyes.]

You're amazing. No Reliant, no Alliance, none of any of that shit. Just you. You're amazing, Ethan.

[Cain holds his gaze for a few intense seconds and then knocks their foreheads together gently.]

Ne vazhno, kak medlenno ty prodvigayesh'sya, glavnoye, chto ty ne ostanavlivayesh'sya. [He says quietly, then he shifts back with a smile crinkling his nose and lightly ruffles Abel's hair.] Keep going. You'll get to where you wanna be.

[inthebiblicalsense]

[A few months prior, sitting and talking with Norton he'd said something similar, and yet he hadn't wanted to hear it. There was too much he had been holding on to, and as much as he still thought that Cain shouldn't be here, that he shouldn't be dead, he pulls in a stuttering breath, wiping at his eyes. There is a bubble of a laugh that comes out, half nerves before he turns his head just slightly so he can catch his lips, the softest little kiss before he pulls back.]

I- I have no idea what that means, but... I'm glad you're here with me. [It's not the truth, not all of it anyways, but it's a small admission he can make, dipping his head as his hair is mussed, catching that crinkle of his nose that he kind of loves to see when he smiles.]

I can't stop now, not when I've got you behind me.

[reargunner]

[He leans into that kiss a little but doesn't chase it too far, looking at him as he absorbs everything and turns it over in his head. Cain knows he isn't the cause of all of Abel's self-doubt... but he knows he didn't help much of it either, and he can at least take responsibility for that.]

Damn right.

[Once they both get back home, however it is that that happens, they're going to have a lot to deal with. Cain isn't planning on leaving Abel alone to deal with any of it.]

I've got your back.