Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
HER
They were back in Manhattan, and Lance was late for the day. Julia knocked impatiently on his apartment door. "I'm coming, Jules! Just you wait!" He yelled, and flung the door open five minutes later, wearing a christmas sweater and -
"You didn't even comb your hair?" Julia groaned in frustration. "What took you so long, then?"
"I was just," Lance bit his lip, bringing his right hand from behind and tucking something into her hand, fingers curling over it. "I wanted to give you this, but don't open it in front of me, alright? It - it's for you, but it was mine, and before it was mine, it was my parents - my biological parents. I want you to have it, there's no reason for me to hold on to it anymore. I have something else that reminds me."
She smiled at his hopeful eyes, "Okay."
"Where are we going first?" He locked his door, and they took the lift down and out. This was an adventure she needed to make sure he wouldn't forget. An adventure that he'd remember, that he'd cherish, because if he loved it just enough to remember it every day, he would feel it in himself - hearth.
"Teardrop park." She exclaimed, leading them to a small park in Lower Manhattan. "This is teardrop park, Lance. It's my favorite park. What do you think?"
"I think," he trailed off, unsure of what to say, but she could see him listening. He was concentrating on the water that flowed steadily in the park, listening to the way it tread on the rocks, and she knew it was a place he'd love.
"Come here," She said after a while. "Lay down on the grass and close your eyes. It's a better way to listen."
And he did, but she didn't. She wanted to see whether it was his place. She sat beside him, breathing softly, hitching when he reached out to hold her hand. "Julia, you're not lying down."
When she didn't reply, he began, "Thank you. For this. I love listening to the water."
"I know," she breathed out. "It was playing in the background the day I visited your apartment. But, why, Lance?" She wasn't asking to reply, she wanted to know, and she wanted him to know.
"Well," He opened his eyes, looking at her, hesitantly, "I don't - I don't really think it's the water. My father, he used to - I just realized - this place, he used to bring me here. But, I was too young, I suppose, to remember the place. I remembered the water, the way it sounded, and the way he'd always tell me something new whenever we came here."
"What was the - the last thing he said to you?" She asked, scared she had phrased it wrong, but his reminiscent smile made her breath out in relief.
"He told me that everyone has a weakness. But, sometimes, it's not actually something, but someone. And he said his weakness was me, that if anyone were to say the slightest offensive thing, Lord have mercy on them. He told me that if I ever found my weakness, I mustn't run away from it, but rather learn to love it. Because if you can love the thing that has the capability to completely destroy you - by heart - you are the luckiest person in the entire world, because with it, nothing else can kill you. You trust them enough to hand them the gun, and you love them enough to not pull the trigger. And I've found my weakness, Julia." He whispered, squeezing her hand.
