𝓖𝓻𝓲𝓼

"Okay," he whispered, his voice barely a breath in the night air, trembling with the weight of his unshed tears. "As long as we're together, it's okay. I'll never ask for anything more. Not for labels, not for promises. Just... don't walk away from me."

He paused, and the words caught in his throat as the sobs he'd been holding back finally burst free. "If you leave again, I... I don't know if I can go through it. I love you so much-even if it tears me apart. You don't have to feel the same, just accept what I have to offer."

His body shook with sobs, each one a convulsion that wracked his frame, a visible manifestation of the pain that words could barely express. He reached out, gripping the other's shirt, his knuckles white, his grasp desperate, as if clinging to the last shred of hope he had left.

Arms enveloped him, a firm, almost overwhelming hug that both comforted him and reminded him of what might be slipping away. A gentle hand rested on his back, stroking slowly, trying to ease the storm inside him.

"I'm not going anywhere" he murmured, voice breaking with emotion. "Please, don't cry-I can't bear it. Just breathe, please, breathe."

Inside, his soul screamed words he couldn't yet voice, words that might never find their way into the air between them.

"I love you, too. So much more than I've ever let on. But I'm afraid-afraid that if I tell you, it will somehow make it real, and I'm not sure I can face that reality. So I'll stay, right here, holding you. Because this-this is all I can do, even if I can't give you everything ."

Sequel to Bleu