just... lays here....

[rocketry]

I hope you're pleased with yourself. I don't want to be there. Edward thinks I'm a stranger and he has his brother, anyway.

Maybe he was right all along. Maybe I really am nothing more than a bad dream.

Comments

[alchimia]

[ clenches a fist, only to release and drag his fingers through his hair in frustration. it gives him a moment to pause and think before he finally reaches out and tugs Alfons close enough so he can ruffle the other boy's hair. ]

You're not— You're not a fucking dream. You're real, right? Heartbeat, breathing, all of that.

[ slowly pulling his hand away, his angry gaze shifts to the ground which he glares at. ]

It shouldn't matter wherever we end up. I may be an idiot, but... There's no way I'd just ignore you, Alfons.

[rocketry]

.. I do wonder, sometimes. Not often, not.. not very seriously. But you were so adamant for a while, and you never quite-- You were just surviving there. On bad days, I thought.. you know, what if Edward is right?

[ he breathes out at the sensation of fingers in his hair, eyes sliding shut. ]

But what a senseless sort of dream, where nothing happens and there are no happy endings.

[alchimia]

I wasn't right. I was being an idiot. You should know that by now.

[ scowls even more, shaking his head adamantly. ]

And that's not how it was. I wasn't just surviving. It was... What made it bearable was... Was you.

[rocketry]

[ he huffs out a slightly breathless laugh. ]

.. I'm glad I could. [ he lifts his head, swiping the back of his hand over his eyes and taking a shaky breath. ] I'm-- I'm sorry, I'm being so ridiculous.

[alchimia]

[ a beat, and then he reaches out to ruffle Alfons' hair again. ]

Yeah, you are. 'Sfine, though. It's... it's fine.

[rocketry]

[ he offers a slightly shaky smile. ]

--Anyway, at least if that place is.. awful, you'll know me in October, right?

[alchimia]

Damn well better.

[ jabbing Alfons' chest with a forefinger, making a face. ]

'Fyou don't show up, I'll... [ okay, he can't go with the traditional kick your ass method in Alfons' case, so he has to come up with something else. ] I won't teach you alchemy.

[rocketry]

If I don't show up, you won't teach me, anyway, since I won't be there.

[ he folds both hands over the one jabbing him. ]

.. I'll try my best.

[alchimia]

[ and, predictably, that hand pauses. but he's still frowning, even if the frown is more of a petulant frown. ]

You'll be there. Even if I have to kick your mun in the ass to do the app.

[ he says it with certainty because he can't imagine alfons not being there, now that he knows the potential is there. he wants alfons to be there, even if he doesn't say it out loud. ]

'Sides, you gotta be there to figure out how the story ends.