Cordiform Heaven

Bean Fic 2: Electric Boogaloo: You Don't Have To Change For Me

Yellow light streamed listlessly onto the streets of Port Sommer as Artie brushed through the misty azure night. His breaths escaped from his chest, shallow and wispy as he wandered. Artie felt a disconnect between his body and mind, disgruntled from the events of the day. The changeling drifted, searching for something beyond the emptiness that filled the night air. Suffocating and full of sorrow. A single thought arose in his head. It drew purpose to his steps; Delnis had said he was going to the cemetery.

Comfort filled the man and color filtered into his pallid face as he thought of the foolish triton. They had not addressed their encounter since reaching Peritone, but the two had not been able to stop sharing meaningful glances and wry smiles. Artie often caught himself thinking about how it had felt to kiss Delnis, how it had warmed him more than the fire that burnt between them, how natural it had been to hold him. And yet, there was a strange and impenetrable distance between them, perhaps born from mutual confusion. Artie wrung his hands. He had no time to speculate about such trifling matters! His eyes remained unfocused as his body shifted mechanically, searching for the familiar face that had anchored him in his time of need.

Rattling from a nearby trashcan jolted Artie into a deepened sense of awareness. The man tripped over himself as he stumbled away in fear, coming face-to-face with little more than a scrawny alley cat. Artie landed miserably in a brackish puddle, which splashed pitifully as he collided with it. He stared wide-eyed at the cat. It hissed at him once in response before bounding off into the darkness, eyes glittering a venomous green through the fog.

Artie sat up and rubbed the arm that had taken the brunt of the fall before painfully rising to his feet. Cold and muddy, he gazed after the creature for a few moments, hoping it had been able to find something to eat.  Just as he turned away from the dark alley, the looming shadow of the cemetery's fence post caught his attention. He'd found it! A new rush of relief flooded Artie as he scrambled across the road, the clattering of his boots echoing through the lonely night air. 

Artie wandered aimlessly through the misty cemetery. He felt coldness creep further into his bones as he maneuvered through the decrepit tombstones. He pressed his lips together in preparation to call out, but grew worried that he'd receive no response and stopped himself. The lanky man smoothed out the edges of his hair, drawing his cloak closer as he lowered himself to the ground. He pressed his back against a tombstone and attempted to steady his addled mind. Thoughts pushed their way through the night's haze, unwanted and frighting. They would not abate. Artie closed his eyes and pressed his forehead into his knees.

He jolted at the feeling of something touching his shoulder. What started as fear quickly melted away into relief as the familiar face of Delnis reached his gaze.

"You made it! Uh, not that I doubted you would or anything." Delnis held a bright smile for a little too long, trouble edging its way into his brow. He knew that it was more than the cold that had made Artie's nose and ears red. He'd been crying. The triton felt his heart sink as he slid down next to Artie. His expression softened as he tilted his head at the changeling. "You were great, I mean, we all made it..."

"That wasn't me." Artie's words were quiet but came with a distinct sharpness, his hands fidgeted uncomfortably.

"I mean, yeah, but it also...sort of was?" Confusion braced Delnis' words as he sought to understand their implications. There was a guilty part of him that always felt as though he was messing up when he spoke to Artie, something that grew all the more difficult to deal with as his feelings for him became more and more unavoidable. However, he was shaken from his worry when Artie pushed closer to him. As if on impulse, he draped his own arm over Artie's shoulders, resting his other hand on his forearm. "It's cold." His words fell like dim light from his lips, as he tried not to stare at the shivering man he held so close in heart and hand.

There was a moment of hesitation before wither spoke or moved again, the misty night settling in on the two. At length, Delnis spoke again, feeling nervousness creep into his veins at every new word. "I, well, it...doesn't really matter to me 'who' you are. As long as you're you." he blinked a few times, trying to read Artie's face, but the man had hid it against his arm. Delnis' cheeks warmed as he grew increasingly embarrassed. "That doesn't really make any sense does it? I'm sorry."  There was a rustling in the damp, loamy soil as Artie pulled away from Delnis and rose to his feet.

"It doesn't, but I don't think any of this really makes any sense." Artie said as he brushed himself off. He looked over his shoulder at Delnis with a knowing glance, but his eyes flickered shyly away almost as soon as they had met. He reached out with a hand to help Delnis to his feet. The two could not help but notice how perfectly their fingers met. Warmth deeper than the night's chill coursed through their flustered faces as they drifted into an effortless embrace.

As little as sense as everything has made, the gesture felt right, and in that moment, it was everything they needed.

"We should really catch up with everyone else."