He thinks he might never stop realizing how grateful he is to have friends like this. Friends who stand by him, not just when he's in trouble, but also when he needs other kinds of support...friends who understand, who hear even the parts he doesn't say out loud...who he can unwrap his wounds in front of, and trust that they won't see him as a weakened part of the herd, easy to pick off, but instead pull out the thorns and shrapnel and make sure it'll heal clean.
He needed to hear this, too, from someone who knows what they're talking about, who's experienced something like it. Anything bad came from the hydra -- a situation in which you could not think otherwise without being suppressed. A space that was empty, that no one else could fill but Yugi -- the hydra would never understand, it co-opted and rewrote. Being bothered at being alone in your mind -- is not a weakness. The words help Atem's feelings about the event settle into a shape he can understand and accept; they help him know himself, to understand what happened and why, and that the answer to "why" isn't "weakness." Ryou presses the sides of their faces together, and Atem shuts his eyes, and tilts his own face in, just a few degrees -- turning towards the comfort offered, accepting it, letting the contact to the sensitive nerves in his cheek and eyelid send warmth and a sense of peace he hasn't felt since Lust had embraced him right away after meeting him outside the other-world all through him.
He gives a little nod against Ryou's face -- yes, he understands.
He's content to be quiet for another breath or two, not in a hurry to respond further. When he does speak, he's clearly calmer, the tight note of I don't know if it was something wrong with me gone from his voice.]
You're right.
Thank you. I'll remember what you've said...and keep it in my heart.
no subject
He thinks he might never stop realizing how grateful he is to have friends like this. Friends who stand by him, not just when he's in trouble, but also when he needs other kinds of support...friends who understand, who hear even the parts he doesn't say out loud...who he can unwrap his wounds in front of, and trust that they won't see him as a weakened part of the herd, easy to pick off, but instead pull out the thorns and shrapnel and make sure it'll heal clean.
He needed to hear this, too, from someone who knows what they're talking about, who's experienced something like it. Anything bad came from the hydra -- a situation in which you could not think otherwise without being suppressed. A space that was empty, that no one else could fill but Yugi -- the hydra would never understand, it co-opted and rewrote. Being bothered at being alone in your mind -- is not a weakness. The words help Atem's feelings about the event settle into a shape he can understand and accept; they help him know himself, to understand what happened and why, and that the answer to "why" isn't "weakness." Ryou presses the sides of their faces together, and Atem shuts his eyes, and tilts his own face in, just a few degrees -- turning towards the comfort offered, accepting it, letting the contact to the sensitive nerves in his cheek and eyelid send warmth and a sense of peace he hasn't felt since Lust had embraced him right away after meeting him outside the other-world all through him.
He gives a little nod against Ryou's face -- yes, he understands.
He's content to be quiet for another breath or two, not in a hurry to respond further. When he does speak, he's clearly calmer, the tight note of I don't know if it was something wrong with me gone from his voice.]
You're right.
Thank you. I'll remember what you've said...and keep it in my heart.
I'm very lucky to have a friend like you.