âNever in my life would I ever describe you as that.â The thought of it was abhorrent and honestly superbly unrealistic. Faith? A garbage best friend in any way? Impossible. âI⌠I have trouble telling people certain things, thatâs on me,â is as comfortable as Damianâs gotten when it came to talking about his issues. He couldnât really stomach explaining it in detail without wanting to fall to his knees and wail so he didnât. He just hoped it would be enough because it honestly took a lot for him to even say even that much.
Damian wouldnât describe himself as an emotional person per se â though a lot of people might disagree â but he just couldnât help himself and teared up just a bit again when he heard the words God made me with you in mind out of Faithâs mouth. After all this time and everything thatâs happened, she still believed it. She still believed in them. It was a kindness he didnât deserve but was utterly grateful for.
âHow could I forget?â Damian said with a smile. Though itâs been years, he still didnât have the heart to tell Faith she may have (read: absolutely have) misconstrued the way Sister Michael meant the phrase. âYou have always been the biggest light in my life,â he admitted with a soft chuckle. âI canât wait for all the things weâll do.â And he was sure with their time apart, Faith probably already had many ideas in mind.
I donât deserve you, he thought but didnât say out loud as he held her. But he was willing to try. He was willing to try and do everything he could to be deserving of Faithâs friendship if she wanted his, despite how dangerous it could be with his innate tendency to want to hide imperfect or ugly things. But he was working on that. He was. It was just something that was easier said than done unfortunately. Though to get this back, his very best friend, his other half, heâd do his absolute best to fight his worst habits and squelch them.
âI have so much to tell you,â he announced when he finally pulled away from the blonde. Because he was sure catch-up was of the highest â well, second highest after a long awaited hug â importance on the undiscussed but understood Damian and Faith reunion itinerary. âBut first, would you like to help me fit sheets on my bed?â He referred to the linens he just barely managed to toss on the mattress before Faith launched herself at him. To anyone that might have been strange, but Damian knew Faith would love such an activity. No one found pleasure in home-making activities quite like Faith McKay did and Damian loved that about her even if it meant that he had to subject himself to tasks that were normally well out of his sphere of expertise in the past.
Faith couldnât help the small smile that tugged at the edge of her mouth, comforted by Damianâs words. She had worried. He might have been the one to lie, but she had been the one that had chosen not to forgive him, promised that they could never be torn apart and then ripped them to shreds when she was hurt. Looking back she wasnât sure that had been fair. Besides, there was something she needed to apologise for. âIâm sorry I left,â She had to swallow down the lump in her throat to continue on, âI shouldnât have just abandoned you like that. Not with...not with everybody else leaving. Oh Damian, I didnât even say goodbye.â She couldnât bring herself to directly talk about Izzy or Maggie, that pain was still too raw, but for months she had felt guilty about leaving her best friend all alone - leaving without telling him just like their other friends had.
It might not have seemed like it recently, what with them not talking and Faith all but renouncing their friendship before sheâd left, but sheâd never stopped believing in Damian. Not really. Sheâd been angry, heartbroken, but deep down she knew that he was a good person. That they were meant to be part of each otherâs lives.
âAnd youâre mine.â It was true. Perhaps her best friend wasnât quite as perky as her, although that might have been for the best, but that didnât mean that he was her own personal ray of sunshine. She only had to think of Damian, one of the many fun memories they had shared or all of the times he had made her so happy that she felt like she might burst with joy, and her bad days suddenly became good. When sheâd missed him, and Broadripple in general, during her mission that was all sheâd needed to get her through. And boy had she missed him.
She immediately missed the hug, but she always did and there was so much more on the agenda. Damian was absolutely right, she wanted to know everything she had missed. âI canât wait!â Her excited words accompanied by her hands clapping together, âAnd I want to tell you all about Malawi. Oh Damian, it was so wonderful!â As if the impending gossip wasnât enough to make her want to jump up and down on the spot, her grin practically split her cheeks in two at her friendâs offer. âI thought youâd never ask,â Faith replied happily, her hands already reaching for the discarded packaging, âDiana always had such good taste.âÂ