[private] i'm off the deep end; islas

[Tiercel]

islas' boyfriend

Tiercel

AIN’T IT HARD KEEPIN’ IT SO HARDCORE

His eyes are directed at the granules of sand beneath his face. Tiercel’s exhaustion forces him to focus on palpable things. He feels darkness swimming at the edges of his vision, threatening to pull him into a long sleep. But he can’t sleep yet; he knows he’s too close to the ocean to think he’s safe from it. Studying the grit of the coast keeps him awake, and he begins to use the time to congeal energy in his legs to stand up.

Her starlight glow prickles at the corners of his eyes, but he recognizes it sure enough to raise his head. She is brighter than any of the constellations glimmering above them, and Tiercel welcomes the burn in his eyes if it means a chance to see her. He knows he would tolerate blindness if it meant the last thing he saw was her slender face.

She is more beautiful now than in any of his dreams.

Tiercel cannot breathe. This drowning is much different than the years of seawater he has endured — he would gladly handle the breathlessness of being with her for a hundred years. How many times did he daydream of her touch? He cannot remember the hours spent envisioning her pale body gliding through the deepwater shadows, her glow breaking past the cage to rescue him. Tiercel had thought of the children, but most often his mind had found her. When his anger came, he would toss it recklessly into the empty spaces of the ocean, yet he wished he could place it among the emptiness of her soul, to show her just how desperate he felt without her. To see the flare of anger in her dark eyes, to see how it made her skin twitch, and — when night came — to see how she channeled it into lovemaking.

His emotions are palpable despite how exhausted he might be. Adoration pours from him into her, and he doesn’t hold back the strength of the emotion like he might’ve when they first met. His heart picks up speed, his body recognizes the one whom it loves even as she speaks in that hollow voice. Is he hurt? Tiercel laughs, but the fatigue makes it sound more like a choking gasp. “I’m okay.” His voice is rough, tarnished from years of saltwater. Though his legs shake, he is able to get himself off the sand and stands dripping before her, glowing heart and blood flaring rapidly.

@Islas