I think---I liked the rain. I could---pick up on more.
[ Like now. The cold and wet feeling is the least of his concerns right now. Right now his focus is on Frank. On the echoes and the way the world ripples around him in the rain. He doesn't pull away when the other man reaches out for his hand. He looks down and squeezes it back, face still open and inquisitive at the moment.
Mike takes a step closer. He listens to his heartbeat and there's no hint of a lie. He reaches up, hesitation making his movements slow and a little halting, before his fingers lightly touch the other man's jaw. It's like a puzzle suddenly fitting together. ]
You said I jumped around like a squirrel. [ The laugh he'd had that night he heard it surprises him now. It's a little jarring but not awful. ] We---we had Italian. It was a little place you picked out.
[Frank's lips move as he fights to not say more. Let him put it together. The pieces are there. And he can see Mike's face concentrating as he thinks it all over. What kind of fragments are his memories bringing together. Hand in hand, he gives a light squeeze.
Closer now? His eyebrows lift. No other movement as though Mike would startle and dart. Frank is more afraid of something disrupting his thoughts.]
Yes. [Lips move and the word is soft, hope lets Frank smile just a little.] That's right.
[ His mind is buzzing. It's not all there but this is more than he's managed to put together in weeks. He had some with his brother before the end but he'd gone looking. Here it felt that no matter how much he tried to put it together it just wouldn't manifest.
Fingers brushing along his jaw still. A gentle brush of a thumb along his mouth. ]
We stayed together that night. You tried to keep my shirt in the morning so I'd come back to bed, Frank.
[ It was Frank's shirt he ended up wearing home but he didn't realize that until later. ] Frank
[ Whispered like a prayer almost. Like he's saying it for the first time. In a way he is. It means something more now. ]
[Watching him so close and so far he has seen flashes of recognition. None of them have lasted this long. Is it the storm? Is this Mike himself breaking through whatever the fuck the Hand had done to him? Frank swallows thickly. That touch is so simple and yet so, so much warmer than the rain or his skin. He gives in and lets his head tilt into that touch.]
...I wanted to keep you with me.
[Is it too much to say? Too much to wish? Frank gives their joined hands another squeeze. The sound of his name in Mike's voice with such tenderness makes his heartbeat flutter, anxious.]
[ There have been moments where something has seemed familiar. There have been times that Mike has asked questions. It hasn't been enough to bring up this much. It reminds him of when he'd broken into the apartment he used to share with his brother. He'd fallen asleep in the bed and dreamt of Matt.
If he hadn't gone to investigate the address Elektra gave him they might never have gotten this far. He and Frank wouldn't be here now. ]
I---I remember wanting to stay.
[ His heart does a funny thing in his chest. He was trained to mask his heartbeat and right now it feels like it's beating in his ears. He can hear Frank's flutter with anxiety. His hand trails down to rest over his chest and he returns the squeeze of the hand wrapped around his own. ]
[They should have stayed in that day, and all the days. Frank should have tried harder to hold onto him and never let him go. Did he not learn his lesson enough with his family? Maria, Lisa and Frank Jr. slipped from his grasp and he thought that he would never feel anything close to that again. Along came Mike and he fell into the ruse of the twins. Though it was pretty clear after enough exposure that they were different. That Mike was as he was, and Frank couldn't ignore how much he was drawn to him.
He still feels that magnetic charge even in cold silence. Their breath is visible as they stand in the down pour, closer together than they had in weeks.]
You don't have to be anywhere you don't want to be. You can stay. The offer stands.
[ Maybe they should have. Maybe Mike should've pushed back a little harder in the beginning for more stolen time with Frank. It's all muddy still. There's still so much missing but this---this feels like a real start in changing that. There's a draw between them anyone would notice. ]
[The night they went out for Italian they talked about baseball and made promises to go to a game. The promise to stay here, to be with one another is far heavier and more important. Frank smiles. God did he think he'd ever smile again this much too? Fingers keep on clasping to Mike's like it is a lifeline to the past and future all at once.]
Good. There's room for you.
[There had been from the start. Mike stepped on into the emptiness and filled the space. Telling him as much feels like adding on pressure to whatever feelings are coming alive again. They have to take this slow. For his brain and for the hope.
Rain keeps falling. They can't get any more soaked than they are now.]
[ He remembers snippets of conversation. It's like hearing things underwater when he tries to dredge the memories up. They'll come back. They have to. He moves closer to Frank, one hand still holding on to his, and reaches up to trail fingers along his jaw with the other. ]
Good thing you don't give up easy.
[ Neither did Matt just in a different way. Mike wouldn't be here otherwise, that's for certain. Time will bring the rest of Mike with it. They have to hope for it at least. ]
[Echoes of sentiment coming on back through. Frank tilts his face into that touch. His mouth moves and he wants to lean on in, to brush his mouth against Mike's to kiss in the rain as they had that night on the way back to the car.
Would it be too soon? Would it be fair?]
I'm with you every step of the way.
[To...what to call it? Recovery? The future? Mike is coming back in flashes, would he be himself or a merged, revised version? Would this new man have any places in his heart for a man like Frank Castle?]</small
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
calltoaction) wrote2019-09-13 04:07 pm
no subject
[ Like now. The cold and wet feeling is the least of his concerns right now. Right now his focus is on Frank. On the echoes and the way the world ripples around him in the rain. He doesn't pull away when the other man reaches out for his hand. He looks down and squeezes it back, face still open and inquisitive at the moment.
Mike takes a step closer. He listens to his heartbeat and there's no hint of a lie. He reaches up, hesitation making his movements slow and a little halting, before his fingers lightly touch the other man's jaw. It's like a puzzle suddenly fitting together. ]
You said I jumped around like a squirrel. [ The laugh he'd had that night he heard it surprises him now. It's a little jarring but not awful. ] We---we had Italian. It was a little place you picked out.
no subject
Closer now? His eyebrows lift. No other movement as though Mike would startle and dart. Frank is more afraid of something disrupting his thoughts.]
Yes. [Lips move and the word is soft, hope lets Frank smile just a little.] That's right.
no subject
Fingers brushing along his jaw still. A gentle brush of a thumb along his mouth. ]
We stayed together that night. You tried to keep my shirt in the morning so I'd come back to bed, Frank.
[ It was Frank's shirt he ended up wearing home but he didn't realize that until later. ] Frank
[ Whispered like a prayer almost. Like he's saying it for the first time. In a way he is. It means something more now. ]
no subject
...I wanted to keep you with me.
[Is it too much to say? Too much to wish? Frank gives their joined hands another squeeze. The sound of his name in Mike's voice with such tenderness makes his heartbeat flutter, anxious.]
I still do.
no subject
If he hadn't gone to investigate the address Elektra gave him they might never have gotten this far. He and Frank wouldn't be here now. ]
I---I remember wanting to stay.
[ His heart does a funny thing in his chest. He was trained to mask his heartbeat and right now it feels like it's beating in his ears. He can hear Frank's flutter with anxiety. His hand trails down to rest over his chest and he returns the squeeze of the hand wrapped around his own. ]
no subject
He still feels that magnetic charge even in cold silence. Their breath is visible as they stand in the down pour, closer together than they had in weeks.]
You don't have to be anywhere you don't want to be. You can stay. The offer stands.
no subject
I want to stay with you.
no subject
Good. There's room for you.
[There had been from the start. Mike stepped on into the emptiness and filled the space. Telling him as much feels like adding on pressure to whatever feelings are coming alive again. They have to take this slow. For his brain and for the hope.
Rain keeps falling. They can't get any more soaked than they are now.]
no subject
Good thing you don't give up easy.
[ Neither did Matt just in a different way. Mike wouldn't be here otherwise, that's for certain. Time will bring the rest of Mike with it. They have to hope for it at least. ]
no subject
[Echoes of sentiment coming on back through. Frank tilts his face into that touch. His mouth moves and he wants to lean on in, to brush his mouth against Mike's to kiss in the rain as they had that night on the way back to the car.
Would it be too soon? Would it be fair?]
I'm with you every step of the way.
[To...what to call it? Recovery? The future? Mike is coming back in flashes, would he be himself or a merged, revised version? Would this new man have any places in his heart for a man like Frank Castle?]</small