And Today Is?

[Cosimo Alessi (DELETED 6612)]

[ATHENA] Athena didn’t wake up this time when her alarms went off, instead maintaining consciousness only long enough to snooze her alarms and to curl back up. It was far unlike Athena to bail out of work, or to bail out of anything that wouldn’t consume her day and keep her nose deep in something busy to do. But tonight was different, she stayed under those covers and didn’t give a second thought to it.


[COSIMO] Cosimo was already out of bed. One would smell the soap drifting in from the shower, which he'd finished fifteen minutes ago. The man had a debt to repay, but even after it was repaid he doubted he'd stop working at Queen of Tarts. He'd found the work lifted his spirits, and he'd been far happier the past couple of weeks. It had something to do with being social, around other people, rather than spending the majority of his nights alone. He'd heard Athena's alarms and had noticed she wasn't getting up -- he slammed the drawer from which he grabbed his socks, sitting on the edge of the bed to pull them on. "You are going to be late," he said to the unmoving body beneath the covers.


[ATHENA] Athena jerked under the covers after the slam of the dresser drawer, pulling the covers down from covering her face and turning her head to the sound of the man’s voice. “I know, I figured they could deal without me tonight.” she murmured, her voice rough from being asleep just a few minutes previously. Slowly but surely, she used both of her palms to rub the sleep from her eyes and sit up in her spot in the bed. “Are you leaving for work now?” she asked soft, almost disappointed.


[COSIMO] For so many weeks, months, even, the woman was religious about going to work. And now suddenly she didn't feel like it. At first Cosimo had been concerned, worried for her wellbeing. Eventually he gave up and let her do what she wanted while he kept himself entertained. Now, his socks were pulled on and he turned to look at Athena, a frown creasing his brow. "Si," he said. "Are you unwell?" he asked. He'd noted the disappointment but had dismissed it. But, as frustrated as he had been, he was still Cosimo. And he still cared.


[ATHENA] “No, I’m not unwell.” she murmured now, looking off to the side before she found his face again. Guilty. She couldn’t remember the last time she had stayed home, the last time they had spent time together that wasn’t mostly sleep. “I just woke up and wondered.. “ trailing off now, she took an unneeded breath and managed to smile at him, though it didn’t meet the blue in her eyes. “I will see you when you get home from work, yeah? I will buy a bottle of wine.” Athena almost winced then, she didn’t want to know how long it had been. She was scared to know, because no matter how busy she got, or how aloof she was, she knew the importance of time together in a relationship and she even spent that time at work. Her relationship was at the garage and she couldn’t begin to deny that.


[COSIMO] "I cannot drink wine," Cosimo said, turning away to reach for his shoes -- leather ones, with laces -- to tie them up. He could see what Athena was trying to do and once upon a time he might have dropped everything. He might have taken the time she was willing to offer him for all that it was worth. "I do not know how long I will be. I have work at the tart shop, and I have some more parts I need to work on. I need to sell the guns if I am to pay Elizabeth back," he said. He did not like being in debt to anyone, even if he doubted Elizabeth would take the money that he proposed to pay back to her. But, he had her account details, and she would have no choice.


[ATHENA] Athena knew that they couldn’t drink it, she knew it and yet she still said it. She said it because she was grasping at straws here, grasping at something she wasn’t sure she had anymore. She knew surely, she didn’t deserve it. “Alright, I will be home when you get home then.” she murmured quietly after she watched him, a promise to him that she didn’t usually make. if it wasn’t obvious before, it was obvious now, that she was trying tonight after months and months of not being home.


[COSIMO] Cosimo knew that this conversation would come to fruition, eventually. Right now, he knew he had a shift to get to -- so although he had things to say, he wouldn't say them just yet. He would say them when he got home -- if she was still there, like she said she was going to be. Deep down, he wasn't sure that he believed her. Cosimo, who was normally boundlessly optimistic, had let a little pessimism creep in. He was not a fan of confrontation. And it was better that he go to work happy rather than late and cranky. "I have fed Artu," he said. The cat had become a master at tricking one or the other for a second lot of food -- his belly was starting to grow. "Have a good night. I will see you later," he said, standing and retrieving his jacket from where it was draped over a chair. He was going through the motions.


[ATHENA] Athena didn’t want to ruin anymore of his days. She didn’t want to continue to be the cause for his crankiness, or the reason he would be late today. It was hard not to remember how happy he had been when she woke up, or how there he had been when she was asleep only to repay him this way. With her absence again, but worse, she was awake this time and for every single night that passed them since. She got caught up again, lost time again, and she lost time in big chunks. In months, she even had the nagging fear that maybe it had been a full year. A full year of this, again. “I will see you later.” she agreed, looking down now at the blanket that covered their bed and her currently. “Have a good day, Cosimo. I will be here.” she pressed the last few words, she wouldn’t let him down again. Not tonight.


[COSIMO] Cosimo stopped by the door as if he were going to say something, but thought better of it. Artu was entering the bedroom as Cosimo entered, the cat looking up at him curiously. Cosimo bent down to scratch the cat between the ears as he waved a simple goodbye to Athena. He collected his wallet, phone and keys as he left the apartment -- everything else he needed was at the Tower, or at work. Artu watched the male leave, before padding further into the room and leaping onto the bed -- no doubt surprised that there was still someone in it.



[ATHENA] Athena watched him leave, the words she wanted to say stuck in the back of her throat. For once, she felt her will betray her and she couldn’t muster up the strength to fight against it. She knew she was in the wrong here so she couldn’t come into this swinging punches. This is something she would enter in with her tail between her legs and a deep rooted hope that Cosimo would forgive her and that they could love again. But she had to show him first that she was serious and she would. She’d make it up to him, she’d spend the rest of their forever making it up to him if that’s what it took. As Artu came padding onto their bed, she reached over and scratched behind his left ear as she thought hard about her next move. With Cosimo gone she made use of those hours to herself. She cleaned the entire apartment, from top to bottom from left to right. She worked hard to get the place sparkling clean, since the only reason it was ever dirty- was her. After she cleaned the apartment, she spent a good few hours simply pacing. She thought about what she was doing, the life she was living and how she could even face Cosimo later after the way she had been treating him. Not that she had been treating him in any sort of way, anyway, when she was busy working or sleeping and was simply not even there for him. She wondered why she was still in this apartment with him, why he hadn’t kicked her out, why he hadn’t given up on her when she so obviously had given up on anything that wasn’t work. Athena had given up on her life, on her love, and the few friends she had for solitude and endless work. She had a lot of making up to do and that was so sure.


[COSIMO] Athena’s behaviour lingered on Cosimo’s mind the whole night, distracting him from his work. The dimples were shown less, the smile at the shop less frequent; he made sure he was able to work out the back, baking the tarts instead of out front serving the customers. It was better to focus on menial tasks, mind-numbing repetition.

When his shift at the Queen of Tarts was over he took off the apron and pulled out the tome that would take him to Ivory Towers. By habit, he walked straight to the crafting table. All his things were still there, as well as a few new parts left behind by, he assumed, Elizabeth. How many hours did he spend hammering away at the different parts, making them fit together in ways that would only make the gun more powerful, with better aim? This, too, took his mind off everything else, requiring all his focus. By the time he looked at his watch it was late. Or early, depending on how one wanted to look at it. Sunrise wouldn’t be too far away -- and he knew Athena was waiting for him. Or, she had said she would be home. Was he avoiding the confrontation?

With a heavy sigh he packed away his tools and tagged the guns he was going to sell, putting them away in a locked box. In order to get back to the apartment he had to take a portal and then walk the rest of the way. The fresh night air washed away some of the scent of baked goods and metal shards, but the evidence of his night would still be there, clinging to his clothes as he walked through the front door. The apartment was clean -- cleaner than it already was. He wondered what was different, and he supposed it was the absence of dust, some of the clutter put away. He cleared his throat as he locked the door behind him, hanging his bag on the nearby rack. Artu came trotting around the corner and Cosimo held out his hands, the cat jumping up into them. It never failed to make Cosimo smile, which he did now, cooing at the animal who started to purr happily.


[ATHENA] Athena heard the door open and she stayed put, she stayed where she was on the couch with her book open over her lap and her phone at her side. She had a notepad open with a pen tucked between pages over their coffee table but besides that the apartment looked like no one lived there. It was so clean that she was even scared to touch something for too long and make it dirty again. She didn't know what to say so she watched for him, she waited patiently as she nervously began to drag fingertips over the pages of the book she was only half reading.

During the time he was gone she tried not to stare at the clock, she willed herself to give him time to come home to her. To give him time away, to not panic, to not leave the apartment in fear that if she did she would miss him and let him down again. So she stayed home, she paced, she read, she listened to her music and most importantly she made arrangements to try and make things up to her lover.

“Cosimo,” she called finally, her voice softer than usual, her guilt hiding in plain sight. “Did you have

a good day?” she asked, almostly childish. This wouldn't keep her out of trouble she earned herself.


[COSIMO] The Italian couldn’t even be sure why he was being so stubborn. It was easy enough to say that he hated confrontation, that this was a conversation he didn’t want to have -- perhaps it was why he had done nothing this whole time. He’d just got on with his life and avoided answering if anyone asked him about Athena -- about where she was or how things were. He said nothing to anyone, even to himself. He focused on other things. The last time he’d been upset about Athena’s work she’d quit a job that she loved, and he didn’t want her to think she had to give up everything for him. So he hadn’t complained.

Couldn’t it then be his own fault for not putting up a fight?

Athena called out to him and Cosimo sighed, pressing a whiskery kiss to the top of Artu’s head before putting him back down. The cat followed Cosimo through to the lounge room where Athena sat, and Where Cosimo dropped himself down into the corner of the opposite couch. Normally he’d be heading through for a shower. But the silent treatment would not only be immature, it would get them nowhere.

“It was fine,” he said. “Yours?”


[ATHENA] Athena watched the man walk into the room, her eyes crinkling at the sides with the heartache she felt about this entire situation. It was true, the months blurred together and she never once heard a peep from Cosimo. But she wasn't playing the blame game and he wasn't freezing her out. She would own up to her part in this, the distance she could feel between them even when they were in the same room. It broke her heart to remember that things hadn't always been this way, that they had been in love before and yet all she felt now was frozen.

“It was ****.” She said bluntly, always being a little more on edge than Cosimo. It was always a thought that maybe that's where she lived, on edge.

Athena tried again, she cleared her throat, she looked hopelessly over at Cosimo while she slowly stood, closing the book in her lap. “I miss you,” she
tried, not even sure how to have this conversation, how to start something so painful that they both had been avoiding for months now. “I'm sorry, I don't - I'm sorry.”


[COSIMO] Athena stood and Cosimo wondered what her next move was. Was she going to come sit by him? It made him nervous, somehow. He didn’t know why. He wasn’t sure how much he could give. His eyes narrowed, mouth parted to respond -- the apology assuaged his response a little. But only a little. His tone was a little less clipped than it could have been.

“I have been right here, and yet I have spent most of my nights alone. I finally get a job and find a purpose, and you tell me that you miss me. Is it because I have not been home when you return that you suddenly realise that you miss me?” he asked, genuinely curious. How did this change suddenly come about? Why now? There was more he could have said, words flung out of frustration, but he bit his tongue. He could have asked whether she wanted him to stay home, to quit, whether that would make her happy. But he wouldn’t quit. He wouldn’t stay home. Why bother asking the questions? Another sigh flared his nostrils and instead, his voice softened.

“Are you okay?” he asked.


[ATHENA]
Athena swallowed, she tried to summon some of that spunk, some of that anger that she always had but nothing came up. She came up empty. She felt empty, as if her stomach would fall directly down onto the floor and she would fail again. It made her jerk backwards some, the tone that Cosimo threw at her but she stood her ground and stood there like the idiot she felt she was. Athena didn't take another step towards him, holding onto her book with both hands as if that would steady her.

“I am okay Cosimo but we are not okay.” She said this clearly, as if that would make him stop asking her if she was bloody okay or not. Athena wasn't ill, she knew this much but she half wished she wasn't so okay, that she had something solid to blame this distance on. She didn't though. This was all on them.

“This has nothing to do with you not being home, Cosi. You're not some… housewife, I don't expect you to be waiting here for me. I want you to have a purpose, I want you to have happiness…” trailing off, she swallowed, mustering up the strength that she needed to continue this fight. “And I want to be a part of that again, I want to be a part of your happiness and your day. I miss you, and I'm sorry for never being home. I'm sorry for working so much and never giving a damn about anybody but myself… “ Athena swallowed air now, a gasp that showed just how much she felt the words she was saying, it twisted the features on her face and she looked close to tears. She didn't even know… could she cry?

“But please, don't pretend like you've said a whisper to me. I'm willing to do what I can, Cosimo.”


[COSIMO] Cosimo shook his head.

“No, we are not okay,” he said. The distance had grown between them, turned into a gaping yawn, a crevasse over which they would struggle to leap. It would take work, which Athena admitted to being willing to put in. And now it was up to Cosimo to agree to the terms. Could he do what needed to be done to close the gap or had he grown too cynical? Would he constantly be waiting?

“I said nothing to you because I should not have to. I said nothing because I am not going to demand you stay home any more than you will ask me to. It is not the first time that it has happened. You are happy in your work,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. Her work meant more to her than other things. That was something he had learned to accept.

“How long? We can be better again, but for how long will it be?” he asked. Cosimo was not a man generally prone to self-loathing or low self-esteem, but since the incident before his turning he had become more sensitive, more prone to a general lack of self worth. It was something he was able, most often, to hurdle over and push aside. He fought back with prowess, his optimism far too great to allow the voices in his head to get him down. This, he realised, was why he was avoiding this conversation with Athena. Listening to himself, he hated the way he sounded, he hated the thing he wanted to say, and to ask. And so he said nothing. He banished the bad thoughts from his mind, he called them untrue, even if there would always be that lingering doubt.

[Athena (DELETED 6736)]

[ATHENA] “You should not have to,” she agreed to that, she didn't fight him on this. He shouldn't have to, but she thought there were some things you said or did in a relationship that you shouldn't have to either. There were some things she would have to say now that she felt should go unsaid. That didn't need to be spoken, but as he continued she wasn't so sure anymore.

It was hard to hear this from him. She remembered the smiling man she had met, the one who got right under her skin. The man she fell in love with, the complete opposite of her. The comfort she felt when he looked at her, the love that warmed her during the day as they slept. It had gone cold now, much like she felt he was now. And it was her fault. It was all her fault. Even as she stood there, even as she struggled to keep herself steady she faulted, if only for a second.

“Cosimo…” she trailed off, squeezing the book in her fingers then as if that would help any. “I fell asleep and I didn't wake up for months.” She admitted this, her shoulders falling just a little there. “I admit that but I didn't fall asleep this time. I am awake, and we let time pass us by. No, maybe you shouldn't have to ask me to stay home but you didn't tell me you wanted me either. You didn't ask me to spend time with me, you didn't - we didn't-...”

Trailing off, she sucked in another deep breath of steadying air she didn't need. “Cosimo, it's no secret that I can find my own version of happiness by myself but I am here. I am still here.. with you because I choose you. I choose us and I… just don't know how to go about it but I am sorry that I didn't say it sooner.”


[COSIMO] Here we go, he thought. The verbal repertoire had started, and how would it end, this time? He remained seated while Athena stood, resisting the urge to get up and pace, to stay still. He chewed the inside of his lip, silent for a good ten seconds while he processed everything Athena had said.

“You cannot,” he said, frustrated. Had he heard right? “You cannot agree and say that I do not need to ask… and in the next breath express frustration because I did not. I thought that being a couple, it meant that wanting to spend time together was an expectation. It is why people are together. It is why they become monogamous,” he said. He leaned forward, rubbing at his face. But, he stopped. All his frustrations were coming to air and yet here was Athena, apologising. Should he continue to argue with her or just let it go?

“I am not accustomed to being alone, Athena. I do not like being alone. It did not feel like you chose us. Yes, I could have told you I wanted to spend more time with you. I suppose I… I didn’t think you’d want to. I did not want to hear you say no…” he said, forcing the words out. To have wanted to spend time with Athena, to have expressed it, and to have been rejected would have … well, he didn’t want to think about it. He hadn’t. Which was why it had never come to fruition.

“You have been happy by yourself? At work, every night?” he asked, dropping his hands properly and straightening up to look at her, to watch her, carefully.


[ATHENA] Athena had managed to keep her tone down, to keep everything down that had once destroyed them. She didn't get angry, she didn't flare up, run away or reject him because it was easier. Athena stayed where she was standing, holding her book so tightly that her knuckles were white and she wasn't so sure that she wouldn't ruin it. But that didn't matter now. She could always buy another damn book.

Her lips had parted several times, always in a hurry to get her side out. Always, always so damn selfish. But she didn't this time. She didn't interrupt him, she didn't demand that he hear her for once because she was busy listening to him. It wasn't easy, to stand there and to listen to how badly her absence had hurt him. It gutted her, to know that she was the cause for such pain. A pain she knew well, a pain she never wanted for Cosimo and yet here she was giving it to him. It was sobering.

Just as he had she paused, she took a few moments to process what she was hearing. To really feel, to sort out her feelings from his own. To put her feelings into words because that had never been her strong suit, it had always been his. Athena struggled there for a second, watching him move around in his seat. She wanted to run to him, she wanted to scoop the man in her thin arms and reassure him that he was loved. That she loved him. But she wasn't even sure if she knew how to be that close to him anymore, if she knew how to kiss him, how to touch him. Maybe all of that had been forgotten and it stopped her from taking more than just a single desperate step towards him.

“No, I have not been happy by myself at work every night.” She struggled to talk now, with how closed off her throat felt. It tightened with her emotion, just like every muscle in her body tensed in response to her pain. Athena parted her lips to speak again, to continue that she wasn't happy unless she was with him but her hands lifted, her book tumbling to her feet and without a glance down - she began to roughly rub her own face, willing herself not to cry because tears hardly helped anything. Athena remained silent for awhile, rubbing hard at the flesh under her palms before her arms dropped and she looked Cosimo square in his face as she said.

“I am not happy by myself at work every night, I am not happy when I am home and you are at work because I want to spend time with you. I do want you, I want to know everything about you and I want to love you more each passing night and I want you to own that.”


[COSIMO] It should have been easy enough to stand, to wrap Athena in his arms and tell her everything was okay. That everything was going to be okay, but it was hard. She took one step toward him and he instead stood and rounded the couch. Now standing, leaning against it, fingers digging into the soft flesh of the upholstery. It was how these conversations always went -- as soon as they touched each other they’d be done for. The conversation would end and nothing would be sorted.

“Then I do not understand,” he said.

“I did stay home. I was home. I only left after you’d gone to work and I was never gone long. I came to visit you, that time. With the sword I made, do you remember? Is is that busy that they cannot hire more staff? That they cannot give you time off? Do you have to go to work? If not, if it does not make you happy then why did you go?” he asked. His tone was gentle. He genuinely wanted to know. The job he’d got with Elizabeth had only been going one week. His longer absences were only a recent development -- maybe a couple of weeks, really, as he’d thrown himself into his craft.

“I ask if you are okay so often because I --” he stopped, shook his head. He didn’t know how to phrase it, or even properly what he was trying to say. Now he felt guilty, like he was the one at fault. Like he was being unfair, even though Athena had hardly said anything to make him feel that way.

“I want to know if anything’s wrong. I want to know about your nights. I want to do more than just sleep next to you. I want to… go out with you,” he said. Maybe that was the answer. They needed to start again. He straightened.

“Athena, will you go on a date with me?”


[ATHENA] Athena started to watch Cosimo move further away from her, turning her head away quickly, so she wouldn't have to watch. She wasn't so sure she could watch. It hurt enough just seeing it out of the corner of her eye.

“No, I don't have to go to work so much.” Athena swallowed again, this being where the truth was hard to say. “But I thought I could use work as an excuse, I thought it would buy me time. I thought it would give me an opportunity to figure out how to love you right. I don't have… much experience in loving someone and I wanted to do right by you. I wanted to figure out how… but I don't think I can do that without you. I don't think that I can figure out how to love without communicating with you that I am terrified because I don't know what to do.” She sighed, not realizing that she had spoken in one breath. Athena was a vampire, she didn't exactly need to breathe but the habit was hard to kick.

Cosimo took her by surprise. He asked her out, he asked her out on a date and she about fell into a fit of tears because he wanted her too. “Yes, of course!… yes.” she started, quickly eating the distance between herself and the open notebook on their coffee table. “I… took some time off work. I thought… if you could, we could… take a trip and talk. I want to be with you and I'm willing to do anything you need me to do to show you that I'm serious…” She began to get further flustered then, as tears brimmed those blues that were narrowed down at her journal. It was so unlike Athena to get this emotional, to be this shaken but she was. Here she was, being more open and honest than she had ever been in their relationship before. She wasn't sure what else to do.


[COSIMO] Cosimo frowned. He wasn’t sure how taking time away from a relationship was supposed to help. He wanted to tell her of course. Two people couldn’t love each other if they weren’t together. Maybe they could, but it wasn’t healthy. Love, that word swirled around in his head. He hadn’t said it yet tonight.

He watched as Athena collected her notebook. He watched as the tears brimmed and rolled over her porcelain cheeks. It made his heart ache to see her cry. It broke him like nothing else could.

“...a trip?” he asked. They’d talked about trips before, but nothing had yet come to fruition. “If you’re talking about a trip to the park, then yes. Or… maybe somewhere for the weekend? Anything longer…” he shook his head. They had to work at this, he knew. But he was conflicted. To take a trip now, to take time off work, would be irresponsible.

“There was a relic for sale, at the shop. It was nine hundred thousand dollars. More money than I could hope to earn in…” he shook his head. How long would it have taken? Years, probably, at the rate he earned it. It was barely a trickle. “I borrowed the money from Elizabeth. Well, she bought the relic for me. I needed it for my crafting,” he said. And it had worked, the relic. His craftsmanship had improved tenfold. “I need to pay her back. I need to find parts and make guns good enough to sell for thousands. I am working for her, for free for now, at the Queen of Tarts. It is a bakery,” he clarified. “I think that I will look… bad, if I were to take a trip only a week after striking the deal,” he said, slowly. He could and would make sacrifices for Athena, but at this point.

“And I… I know this is always an excuse, and if we’d had this conversation a week ago maybe it will have been different. My childer, they are all gone. But I have a new one. A…” he stopped. He hadn’t even told Athena about this. About the train crash. About Cheyenne. Had it really got that bad? She had tried, with his childer. But he still didn’t think she’d like it. “Cheyenne. A man. He is so new. I think he will be fine but…” he stopped, trailing off. “A date, Athena. Please? Let’s just start with a date…”


[ATHENA] Athena would admit now and forever that she had made a mistake. She had even said she hadn't a clue what she was doing. It had been easy to love her husband, she had been doing that since grade school and it came as second nature. This was completely different, this was a completely different man. A completely different Athena.

She listened to him, nodding a few times as she did. It wasn't that she blamed him. This was her fault, she understood that. It wasn't going to be easy, she knew that too. As she held onto her notebook, she began clutching the poor thing so close against her chest that it was beginning to hurt. “Of course, yeah.” she managed, her voice strained because now she was holding back again. “I understand, you keep your responsibilities and if you need help… You can always tell me.” she took a few steps away now, so that she could go and collect her book from the floor. “We can go on a date, perhaps on a night that isn't so close to being over.” she began to walk away now, clutching both the notebook and the book to her chest but she paused, halfway to their bedroom to turn and ask.

“Does …. your childe need anything? Do… you?”


[COSIMO] Failure. He felt it. He’d said no, he’d held his ground, and now Athena was hurt. She was walking away from him. He was already eyeing the couch; if Athena disappeared into that bedroom, he didn’t know whether he’d be welcome in the bed. If he was the one to ask them to start slow, to start again, if they went right back to the beginning, then they should sleep separately.

But then she stopped. She asked if he needed anything and he was stunned. His jaw dropped and he started to shake his head, but then stopped to actually think about it. The next shake of his head was slower. “N-no, I don’t think so,” he said, and smiled. “Thank you for asking…” he said. He stayed where he was, watching Athena, waiting to see where she would go next. He knew he needed to shower -- wanted to shower, anyway. It was a habit, a comforting one. But now he was unsure. The conversation had come to an end, agreements had been reached. It didn’t feel fixed, but they would have time for that. He pushed his hand through his hair and took a step toward the bathroom. And then another. Now he was awkward. He didn’t know what else to say. She did not ask about his childe or how it had happened, but they had their date to chat.

“Goodnight, Athena. I’ll see you when we wake up,” he said. He could think about where they would go, and what they would do. For now, all he could do was shower and sleep.


[ATHENA] Athena stayed rooted to her spot, completely certain that any other time she would have ran into their room and slammed the door shut behind her. It would have ended ugly, any fight that they had. But this wasn't a fight. She hadn't wanted it to develop into one either. Really and truly, she wanted to fix things.

“Of course, Cosimo.” she nodded a little, holding her books to her chest tightly, as if the hold would keep her from unraveling. She watched him get awkward, watching him take those small steps towards her - towards their bedroom where the bathroom was but she didn't make any further moves to run from him. Athena was refusing to let this end badly, to let this end like every time before so she spoke. She didn't say goodnight.

“Will you hold me tonight, Cosimo?” she asked instead, trying to make her line clear. Athena knew that before he would end up on the couch, locked out of their bedroom by hers truly until she snuck to join him on the couch. The empty spot next to her even getting to her in her sleep, but tonight she wanted nothing more than to find some closeness with him again. To chip away at that ice that surrounded them, to take a step towards each other to clear the distance. Even if, it was something as simple as being curled beside him as
he slept like a log.


[COSIMO] Tension dropped from Cosimo’s shoulders and he nodded. The few extra steps were taken, his hands pulled from the pockets they’d found themselves in so he could wrap his arms around Athena, around her slim shoulders, books and all. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, one that lingered.

“Si,” he said. He could do that. He allowed that usual hope to creep into his soul, the optimism an infectious riot that was never too far away. In the end, he hadn’t needed to say anything to Athena. She’d figured out something was wrong. He could give her that credit -- and he could claim the fault that was his own. Maybe the silences wouldn’t have lasted so long, maybe the distance wouldn’t have got so wide, if he’d spoken up earlier. If he’d attacked her with accusations, though, maybe they wouldn’t have reached the same conclusions. Maybe, because she’d reached this on her own, it was better for the both of them.

“Go to bed, the sun will be up soon. I will shower. And then I will join you,” he said, pulling back just a little to look down at Athena, his hand slipping to her neck, thumb brushing her jaw. It was hard to extract himself now that he’d instigated the embrace. He hooked his fingers beneath Athena’s chin, lifting her face to his, his lips meeting hers. Soft. Gentle.


[ATHENA] Athena's tension died the moment that he put his arms around her again. If she were being honest, she couldn't remember the last time they just touched simply. It was more than she could hope for in that moment, to be in his arms again. She hadn't realized how much she missed it until it was happening again. How could she have taken this for granted? How long had it been? She didn't want to know.

She wanted to say something, to say anything, but now it was her turn not to know what to say. Blue eyes closed halfway, her body's tension melting away as she had him near. “Okay,” she began to say, her lips parting once she felt the man's thumb at her jaw, wishing now that her arms weren't full so that she could embrace him back. So that she could wrap him in her arms, to hold him close to herself instead of her damn books. But as she felt him gently lift her chin, she caught her breath and those old butterflies in her stomach came back to life, fluttering uselessly in the pit of her belly as she watched his mouth come down on hers. Soft. Gentle.

Athena had to sigh, a sound, almost desperate. The kiss was enough to melt her fully, her knees wobbling just enough to cause her irritation but not enough to break their kiss. She kissed him back, just as soft, just a gentle before she slowly - and reluctantly- pulled her lips away from his to whisper. “I will be waiting for you.” She didn't dare pull from his arms yet, she didn't want to leave the safety of them. Not just yet, not until the very last second would she ever leave them again.

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