kings of babylon [completed]

epilogue

It is not the end of time, but it wouldn't matter if it were. On the contrary, every moment feels like the beginning for the boy, who is no longer a boy. He is not a human, nor is he a demon, nor an apparition. He is Eve, that much he knows, and he doesn't really need to know much else.

Besides one thing.

It is resting time for these two, these two that are not the devil and a boy, not an angel and a demon, not men, but Luc and Eve.

And like most nights, they are prolonging the time until they fall asleep by being wrapped in each other's arms and making each other as breathless as possible. If you asked Eve, he'd say it wasn't a competition, but Luc would disagree, but only because he has lost enough times to know.

It is one such moment when Luc is flushed and breathless against Eve when the victor pulls away, his brow furrowed, and clears his throat. It takes a moment for Luc to focus and realize what is going on before he lifts a hand to stroke the space between his lover's eyebrows.

"Are you alright?" He asks. Eve nods. "Of course. I just was wondering... what are we?" Luc almost laughs. "What do you mean, what are we?" When the look on Eve's face indicates that he is not joking, Luc tucks his face in between Eve's neck and shoulder, and presses kisses there on top of marks that have not yet faded.

"You are mine and I'm yours. We are Eve and Luc." Eve sighs as Luc carries on, but has to resist the urge to press into Luc and lose himself in the person he loves.

"But what does that mean for us? For time?"

Eve has lost track of time. It has been a while since he reconnected with Harry, since their first kiss. His family is all still alive, but Ponyu passed. Eve cannot remember any other significant events. He is almost at a place where things can be still. There's next to nothing he wants to know or wonders, and the only things he continues to crave are rest, an occasional pastry, and Luc. Always Luc.

But in the moment? He wonders what that craving means. What is makes them. They love each other, almost every second of their existence is spent together, many of Eve's thoughts are of Luc. He knows there was a point in time when he wasn't touching Luc, when they weren't entangled in each other's limbs or at very least holding hands, but he can't remember what that felt like. He doesn't want to.

And ever since the first kiss? One of his greatest joys also became something he couldn't remember not wanting. Kissing Luc was like reading a good book or watching a good show. Sometimes it was very hard to choose which he wanted to do, but Luc was more actively persuasive than any piece of media.

What did that make them? What did the touching, the holding, the kissing, the warmth in Eve when he was with Luc or thinking about him, or the cold when he was absent of both things, what did they mean? What did it mean that there was nothing more he wanted than the love of the person in his arms?

"You have it," Luc murmured against him. Eve rolled his eyes.

"Thats not what I meant," He grumbled back. Luc raised his head to look at Eve with amused eyes. "Do you want a label, Steven? Because I think we both know where that conversation would go..." His index finger was light as it traced down Eve's spine. He tried to suppress his shiver. "W-what do you mean?"

Luc chuckled. "Would you say we're friends?"

Eve thought for a moment. It was what he'd told Harry they were, but that was before, and then He looked down. Eve had discarded his shirt, though Luc was still clothed in comfortable pants and a shirt, a shirt that one of Eve's hands was under. The other had been holding Luc's face. One of his legs was between Luc's and the other was wrapped around his hips. Often they ended up in this position or a position similar to it as they went to sleep. Eve didn't suppose that friends were so physical.

Luc shrugged. "Others in the land of the living would disagree. Plenty of them enjoy being physical with people they don't classify as romantic partners." Eve's brow furrowed. "Are we... that then?" He searched his memory for the words they'd used. There were so many things he'd forgotten from living.

"Are we boyfriends?" He idly wondered what the difference was, though, if there were people who were physical with people they cared about and still called them friends.

"Feelings, usually," Luc answered Eve's thought. Eve cocked an eyebrow.

"There is a difference between platonic and romantic feelings. The difference is relative to the person, usually. What do you think the difference is?"

Eve's confusion deepened. Luc was the only friend he'd ever had, and nothing had truly changed since the first time they kissed. They were more intimate, but they had spent all the time they could before together, just as they did currently. And really, they'd been physical before, though differently. Eve felt like he'd always wanted that, he just didn't realize that he did.

His feelings stayed constant as long a he knew Luc, simply growing as time wore on. Sometimes, he felt as though he'd explode with the warm, all consuming adoration he felt for the person in his arms, but that had always been there. Even when they were just the Too-Human Devil and the Too-Sick Human who formed an unlikely bond through laughter and loneliness. Even when they just laid in grass or sand, silent, enjoying breathing together, feeling as if their serenity calmed the rest of the world. Even when Eve couldn't leave his bed and Luc stroked his hair and held him until it ebbed or Eve lost himself to unconsciousness, those pond fauna eyes reminded him that there was something so much more to the world than pain.

Eve's train of thought was cut short when he heard sniffling. His eyes focussed on a crying Luc. He was trying to wipe away his tears but his friend was quickly getting close to weeping.

"Luc?" Eve's voice strained with worry, scared he'd said (or maybe thought) something wrong. He returned his hand to Luc's face and tried to rub his skin soothingly and wipe his tears away at the same time.

"I just... love you," Luc choked out, and laughed, embarrassed. He nuzzled his blushing cheek into Eve's hand and the black haired boy's heart stuttered within him. "I love you, too," Eve whispered.

And he knew that. And Luc knew that. So what did it matter what they classified themselves as?

And it was that simple. Something in Eve rested, and he leaned forward to gingerly kiss Luc. This is what they were. Crying because they loved each other so much, kissing until they couldn't breathe because it was the only way they could get close to showing how strong their feelings were, spending every moment with each other because their souls, their souls had aligned and weren't quick to part. They were looking past pain, they were doing everything for each other, they were joy and contentment and they were alive, even if it wasn't by conventional means. They were sending blood rushing in each other and making each other's hearts charge like horses or resting them, they were steadying each other's steps and strengthening each other's laughs. They were in love and they were alive and that is all that matters.