[mature] here we are in the heart of the darkness; Briseis

[Briseis]

little do you know how I'm breaking while you fall asleep,
little do you know I'm still haunted by the memories,
little do you know I'm trying to pick myself up piece by piece

Even when his teeth momentarily grip her skin, and even when she can feel a word being growled from his core, she is not afraid of him. Instead, she presses closer, the shadowy coolness of his skin colliding with her warm own, and she swears she can feel that same tension brewing, and it makes her heart jump into her throat at the idea that maybe she hadn’t been imagining things before. That even though everything was confusing and precarious right now, there was still perhaps something stronger at the foundation to stand on.

The single word, mine, is pressed possessively into her flesh, and her reaction when it is uttered from his tongue, and not Tunnel’s, is entirely different. She does not withdraw, and the heat that races to the top of her skin is not out of fear, as her mouth finds the familiar slope of his shoulder and her whispered reply is almost lost against him, ”Yours.” She doesn’t realize how true it is until she has said it, but the weight of such veracity is enough to leave her feeling weak. He had tamed the feral parts of her without even trying, without even meaning to, and she was powerless to stop it.

As the tension slowly recedes from his body, she does not move. She had been waiting with stilled breath for him to say something — anything — in reference to what she had said earlier, about having someone else. She had steeled herself for what she was certain would be the truth, had been preparing for it as soon as she had seen him. But she couldn’t look at him while she waited, and so she stood with her forehead still resting against his neck, her incredible stillness betraying the way her heart is jumping.

There isn’t anyone else, and that’s not the answer she had been expecting. When she pulls away, it is only to cautiously meet his golden eyes, studying him closely, as though she could break into his mind and strip it down until she knew if he was lying or not. Her eyes drift to the small colt still curled on the ground, and then over to the other two as they played with her own son. When she looks back to him, with tentative acceptance, she says nothing, and only nods her head.

Even though she had not left much space between them, it still felt like too much, and in half a step her lips are against his cheek, and then softly traveling downward until they rest against is jaw. ”I missed you. I waited, and you never came back.” If it weren’t for the thick, unmistakable sorrow in her voice, it would be easy to think that she was angry with him. She wasn’t, and she never had been. She was navigating something she did not understand, and she had told herself repeatedly she could not miss something that had never been hers to begin with.

BRISEIS

underneath it all I'm held captive by the hole inside,
I've been holding back for the fear that you might change your mind