@seafaired continued from [x]
There were times when the strange hypnosis of their lives convinced Elijah that things were precisely as he dreamed them to be. Moments when he felt he could reach out and draw Willem to him and have neither one of them find the action strange. To endure as his love had done for so long, it could be that those moments may have ended in welcome of the decision and yet – awareness always came, in the end, that such was not the role they played with one another.
The feather light touch to his features only deepened the illusion between them, this question that lay unspoken upon their lips of what they were and what was welcome. Elijah knew the yearning that dwelled within his own heart, and in moments like these it was so easy to convince himself that Willem held the same fire inside that he did.
Yet it was on the wake of his words that everything hinged – the choice between them laid bare before Willem now taken and addressed, there was no reason Elijah could think of that would dictate he should continue to hide the secret that sang like poetry in lungs too long starved of air.
Reaching out, he bade Willem closer by way of an arm around the other’s waist. With his other hand, he brazenly drew back the wild, midnight curls that framed the pale visage of the other man’s face, tucking them serenely back behind an ear that would not hold them long once the sea wind caught them. Meeting the other’s gaze he infused his voice with the confidence he felt they both needed as he assured and coaxed in the same breath.
“There is no question of whether or not I would have you. I’ve chosen you enough times that to me, it is now natural – but as always, it seems I must convince you that I know my mind,” He smiled, teasing, perhaps, in memory of other arguments, other certainties Willem held that Elijah would tire of this life, that he would leave, that the promises he made were in some way dangerous, or in other ways, plain foolish.
He did not grant Willem time to gather strength in those old arguments. Instead, he curled his fingers beneath the man’s chin and drew him down just enough to meet the certainty of his kiss.
Ocean Archive 