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Indie RP for Jory Davis

Meet the Muse

Mun Rules

Jory's brow arched at Daniel's guinea pig comment, a wry smile curving his lips as he squeezed Daniel's hand. He leaned in, eyes glinting with playful mischief.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" he teased, letting the question hang before turning to Rose.

"I have to say," he continued, his voice warming with sincerity, "it's refreshing being here with you both. I haven't spent time with an immortal woman before, Rose. Your energy is... different. In the best way." He paused, a flicker of self-awareness crossing his features. "I hope that doesn't sound too forward, it's just my nature, I suppose."

There was an easy confidence in his manner, a warmth that drew people in without effort.

He grew thoughtful. "Funny thing, Everard and I actually crossed paths first in New York, at a fashion show I worked when I was still mortal. Brief, but it stuck with me. Years later, as I am now, an immortal, I was wandering the bayou outside New Orleans, hungry, isolated, honestly at a low point. Everard found me again. He remembered me. Helped me find my footing." His voice softened. "I trust him for that."

He glanced at Daniel, biting his lip in quiet reflection. "Those early years weren't easy. I didn't reach out much. Just tried to survive."

Turning back to Rose, he opened up further. "As for gifts, I have telepathy, the fire gift, and the cloud gift. Control is still a work in progress, especially with fire. My old home didn't survive. A rueful smile. "The cloud gift I've barely used. Maybe I'm still holding onto pieces of my mortality. Your offer to teach me means a lot."

Curiosity sparked in his expression. "You mentioned lessons from the court. What's the most important thing you teach the newly turned? I'm always interested in learning, especially from someone with your perspective."

He squeezed Daniel's hand again, feeling a gentle warmth and a rare sense of belonging. For the first time in a long while, he felt truly at ease, content in their company.

daniel-james-molloy

Daniel summoned a smile back at Jory, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. There was, in fact, something he'd never mentioned. Something he should have mentioned before he'd turned Jory, but had gotten lost in the midst of everything else that had happened back then.

"Fareed took enough blood samples from me I half expected somebody to pull out a straw and stick it in me like a Capri Sun," he said, shrugging, doing his best to pass off the tension he felt stirring inside with humor. Now didn't seem like the best time or place to talk about the something he'd failed to disclose in depth; and he didn't want the information getting back to the court or to the research vampires and he wouldn't put that kind of pressure on Rose to keep a secret.

He'd had enough poking and prodding, and he didn't trust that if Fareed found out that he wouldn't be summoned back.

Or worse, made to go back one way or another.

Daniel fell quiet again as he listened to Jory and Rose continue talking, felt a different kind of tightness inside as his fledgling talked about his time alone, and as he spoke about his gifts in the blood, none of which he possessed himself and wouldn't have been able to provide any insight or help with, but still, he knew; he should have been there all the same.

When the topic returned to Rose's work at court, he finally spoke again, finally voicing the quiet but hopeful question.

"Rose, has there been any way the court or anyone else has come up with to help the new, weaker immortals? Or the ones that aren't adjusting as well, or that are... or aren't quite well in the mind?"

nodominion

"Women are different to men? What a revelation." It feels easy to tease Jory as he makes it easy for the banter to flow freely. Rose wonders as to his past, his human life, but doesn't pry. Tonight is for joyful reunions and fresh faces.

When Jory and Daniel exchange information about Fareed's facility she hopes she hasn't overstepped. Said something more than she should. But it seemed easily smoothed over, her attention mostly focused on Jory as he speaks of his time without Daniel. Even though Jory has survived without any obvious scars, it does sound lonely, especially for someone like Rose who always needs others around.

At the description of his gifts both of her eyebrows raise. It was an impressive array for someone younger than her, and made with blood not as aged. Rose files the information away for another night, smiling easily, "Patience. It sounds silly, after all we're meant to be immortal. We have infinite time to do everything. And yet, those freshly turned are always in a rush. Eager with new powers and abilities and a freedom that humanity can never offer. So, sometimes, it is better to wait. You'll gain control with time. And that is the one thing we have."

There's a sharp inhale at Daniel's question. As her mind flitted between the facts she knew and the ones she was meant to present Rose's mind locks fully. Nothing in or out. While she could not lie to Daniel, she could be tactful, "Marius is Prime Minister. Did he ever have any solutions other than the old adages? Let the madness pass with time. No one knows anything else. For newly turned who can't adjust... that decision isn't up to me. It's above me. Let's just say I've never seen them again. Whether that means they're locked away or... I couldn't say."

Thinking about this aspect of court has wiped any joy from her, standing and placing several hundred dollar bills under her drink. "I should be going. I've had a long flight and I need to hunt. It's been great to meet you Jory. Keep in touch, Old Man." Rose moves to kiss each of them on the cheek before she's gone from the hotel bar, from the city, in the sky and far away. Before she revealed too much, before her heart grew too heavy with her dark thoughts.

daniel-james-molloy

The less than stellar information and Rose's abrupt departure drew a small sigh from Daniel after she'd exited the bar. He wasn't even entirely surprised by what she had, and also what she hadn't said outright.

He withdrew his own wallet, tossed down a few bills as well without counting them, then looked at Jory, smiling a little sadly.

"Well. That was that I suppose."

He paused and took a moment to just... look at Jory, took time and held a space for the silent gratitude that rolled slowly through him at his fledgling's presence and existence in his life again, then reached over and rested a hand on Jory's arm, a look of sudden genuine curiosity coming over him.

"You said you got flowers for you mother." A beat. "How is she?"

He held Jory's gaze as he let the small whisper of memory the initial mention of her had caught and snagged up from some place he'd lost it rise again. Remembered that this was something they'd disagreed about.

There was no anger, no fear when Daniel spoke again, only interest in the inquiry softly intoned so only Jory could hear him. ".... Did you end up telling her?"

mirroredxmusings

Jory watched Rose disappear through the bar's entrance, her silhouette swallowed by the night before he could even process what had happened. The kiss on her cheek still felt warm, a ghost of contact that somehow made her absence more pronounced.

Two for zero.

The words tasted bitter even as he thought them. First that disaster with Armand, now this. He'd actually thought it was going well with Rose. The conversation had flowed, easy and natural in a way that never happened with other immortals, other than his Blood spouse.

And then she was just... gone.

The ambient noise of the bar pressed in, glasses clinking, low laughter from a couple in the corner booth, some jazz standard bleeding from hidden speakers. All of it suddenly felt too loud, too human, too much like a life he could observe but never quite touch anymore.

Daniel's sigh pulled him back. Jory turned to look at him, catching that sad little smile, and felt something in his chest constrict. Then Daniel's hand was on his arm, warm and grounding, and his expression shifted to something Jory couldn't quite read. Curiosity? Concern?

You said you got flowers for your mother. How is she? Daniel had asked.

He looked down at the bills scattered on the table. Rose's hundreds, Daniel's twenties, all that mortal currency that meant nothing and everything. His throat felt tight. The receipt from the flower shop was still in his jacket pocket.

"She's... fine. Good. She's good." The words came out flat, unconvincing even to his own ears. "Still beautiful,she's still so beautiful. The flowers will arrive tomorrow morning. Cymbidium Orchids, Calla Lilies, and Proteas. Blooms that match her elegance, that don't wilt too quickly. She deserves flowers as graceful as she is."

"Did you end up telling her?" Daniel's next question.

"No." The word came out sharper than he intended. He softened his voice, tried again. "No, Baby, I didn't tell her."

Tomorrow evening, when he woke, he'd call her. Maybe video chat if the lighting was right, if he could angle the camera just so. She'd thank him for the flowers, ask him about work, about his life. He'd lie with a smile on his face because the truth would destroy her.

"I'll call her tomorrow night when I wake up," Jory said, his voice dropping lower. "We'll probably video chat. She'll show me the flowers, tell me about her week. I'll pretend I'm calling from some hotel room in another city, another time zone. Pretend I'm living some normal life she can understand."

The jazz piano tinkled on, oblivious. Somewhere behind the bar, ice cracked in a shaker.

"What was I supposed to do?" Jory met Daniel's eyes. "Show up at her door and explain why I haven't aged? Why I can only visit after dark? Why I can't sit across from her at the kitchen table and have coffee anymore?"

"She thinks I'm out there living my life. Successful. Happy." Jory's voice cracked slightly on the last word. "Why would I take that away from her? Why would I make her spend whatever time she has left grieving for a son who's still walking around?"

The bar felt too small suddenly, the walls pressing in. Rose's empty glass sat on the table between them, lipstick stain on the rim. Evidence of someone who could just leave, who didn't have to carry the weight of a mortal family slowly dying while you stayed the same.

"I see her when I can," Jory said finally, quieter now. "But not like I want to. Never like I want to."

daniel-james-molloy

Daniel was silent as Jory spoke, and his heart ached as he listened and observed the way this particular challenge of immortality had affected his fledgling, hearing it not only in his words but seeing it in the subtle ways it betrayed itself; in the hesitations, the tension that crept into his body almost imperceptivity.

He flinched at that brisk 'no' instinctively, his hand jerking back a fraction from Jory's arm before he deliberately and gently rested it back there, quiet a long moment more before he finally spoke.

"... I'm sorry, that this was another way I didn't know how to guide you. Becoming what we are and... having family. People that you care about and that care about you that are still living."

Daniel paused, thought briefly on how his own turning had impacted not a single living soul. His own family had never reached out or contacted him when he'd still had a mortal pulse after he's left Iowa, and he'd called back only for his grandmother, and never again after she'd died, so shortly after he'd fled his hometown and state.

He glanced about the bar, at the very living patrons scattered at other tables, felt the press of the living world around and against them. Also felt the distance immortality created, of being a timeless being that could only observe and never partake in the same way with the mortal world.

Daniel pressed down the quiet ache that rose to match it; that sense that somehow the same distant observer status applied to interacting with the preternatural world just as much for him.

" - And I'm sorry I didn't give you more support about it before either," Daniel continued quietly, looking back up at Jory again. That ache blossomed as he did, as he made himself sit with the weight and responsibility of bringing Jory over into that same lonely existence - and leaving him unguided and alone to face it.

"I should have thought of these kinds of things, and I didn't... and at the very least I should have been patient. Listened to you and what you worried about before turning you." He shook his head. "I didn't know how to have that kind of conversation with you because it was something I never dealt with myself, but I should have tried."

mirroredxmusings

"I know you couldn't have prepared me for this," he said finally, his voice soft but steady. "You never had to face it yourself, so how could you?" There was no accusation in his tone, just the simple weight of understanding. "Your family let you go before you ever became this. Mine didn't. Mine still calls on Sundays. Mine still expects me to come home for the holidays."

He paused, and the jazz piano continued its meandering melody, filling the space between his words.

"What's hard isn't the immortality, it's the specific losses that come with it. My Mother and my Father." His voice softened there, became more vulnerable. "That's not about wishing I was mortal again. It's about loving someone who's still mortal and knowing I can't bridge that gap without destroying them. It's about having to choose between presence and honesty, and neither choice is good."

"And tonight, with Rose, that wasn't about immortality either. That was just... rejection. Connection that didn't land. It happens." He gave a slight, rueful smile. "Apparently it happens to immortals just as much as it does to humans. Maybe more, because we're all carrying so much weight we can't explain to each other."

The couple in the corner booth laughed at something, the sound bright and uncomplicated. Jory didn't flinch from it this time. Just observed it, the way you'd observe weather through a window, present, but separate.

"You're here," Jory said, and his voice carried genuine warmth. "You're sitting with me in this bar at two in the morning. You're not pretending you have all the answers. You're just... present."

The bar felt smaller now, but in a different way than before. Not claustrophobic, but intimate. Like the rest of the world had receded, leaving just this moment, this conversation, this connection between Maker and fledgling who were both still learning what that meant.

"So don't carry guilt about turning me," Jory said finally, his voice firm but kind. "I chose this, even if I didn't know everything it would cost. And I'm choosing it again, every night I wake up. What I need from you isn't an apology for making me immortal. It's just... this. Honesty. Presence. Someone who sees that I'm strong enough to handle this existence and still human enough to grieve what it costs."

daniel-james-molloy

Daniel let himself sit with Jory's words for a moment before he spoke, and not for the first time let the weight of what had been said and the moment settle into him.

"I know you're strong enough," he finally said, his gaze fixing steady and unwavering on his fledgling as he did, and his tone was low but firm. "Your strength is part of why I didn't question making you. I knew you could handle immortality. That wasn't something I ever questioned."

Daniel paused, remembering that exact moment; the one where he knew he'd turn Jory, knew he had to. There'd been no hesitation or doubt in that instant about Jory's ability to survive, not knowing what he'd endured already.

The memory of bones snapping and that malevolent laughter of the dark entity that had once threatened to torment and torture Jory and by extension Daniel simply because it could still sent a cold fury and fierce flare of protectiveness through him.

"And I don't feel guilty about making you," he added after another moment, his voice softening to something more tender, and his hand slipped down Jory's arm to interlace their fingers. "The only guilt I feel about it is that I wasn't stronger and that I left. That you were alone. But about turning you? Not that. Never that, Jory. And you have both, my honesty and my presence. I'm not going anywhere unless it's with you."

mirroredxmusings

Jory's throat tightened at that. At the absolute certainty in Daniel's voice, the weight of the promise. He squeezed Daniel's fingers, grounding himself in the warmth of that touch, in the reality of him sitting across from him in this quiet bar at two in the morning.

"I needed to hear that," Jory said softly, his voice rough with emotion. "Not just the words, but... the way you mean them. That you don't regret me. That you're choosing to stay." He paused, swallowing hard. "I spent eight years wondering if I was a mistake you made in a moment of weakness. So yeah. I needed that."

He took a breath, letting the moment settle between them before his expression shifted and becoming more focused, more intent. The vulnerability remained, but now there was a hunger for understanding beneath it.

"But there's so much I don't know," Jory said, his thumb brushing across Daniel's knuckles. "Things you've been carrying alone. You mentioned Fareed and that he made you a guinea pig. What kind of experiments, Daniel? What did he do to you?"

daniel-james-molloy

The words rippled through Daniel and left a sharp and sudden ache that made his own chest tighten and also his hold on Jory's hand. His response was whispered but there was a fierceness behind them all the same, an intensity that also flashed in his eyes.

"You are not a mistake."

He paused, needed to take a moment to quell the telltale sensation of blood tears that had come with the rush of emotion, before adding, "Of all the moments of weakness in my life, you aren't one of them, Jory." He searched Jory's eyes, hoping his fledgling could see the truth of it reflected in his own. "I meant what I've said, more than once - making you was and is the most important thing I've ever done. You were, are too full of life and fire and drive to let die."

Daniel paused again, glanced around the bar at the other patrons, then at Jory again. There were many eyes and ears for what else he needed to say; even if the mortals were completely unmindful of their conversation, the topic itself cause him unease, and the words would flow easier between just him and Jory. "Let's go outside?"

Across the street was Pershing Square, and at that late hour it was almost vacant, the purple bell tower casting a long shadow across the park. Daniel led the way, still not relinquishing his hold on Jory's hand as they went and found a bench under the tall palms for them to sit.

He took a moment to ground himself; in the light rustle of the palms overhead in the evening breeze and in Jory's presence before he spoke. "Like I said before, about Fareed... I went because I was hoping maybe there'd be some way to.. fix whatever it is that's off about me, and Marius encouraged it."

He shook his head a little, a sad smile accompanying it. "That's when all the blood draws started, the testing. Fareed and his staff, they took... particular interest in it. My blood. That Marius could feed me from his own wrist when I'd been unable to hunt on my own or even safely with supervision.. and it didn't affect me like it does most other immortals. The gaining strength from ancient blood." He made a soft, wry sound. "It just... doesn't seem to work that way on me. But Fareed, he saw potential, research potential. So there were more blood draws... more tests."

Daniel paused again, took Jory's hand between both of his own before he went on. "... I know there are things I should have told you before that I didn't. Not because I was trying to keep things from you, I just... wasn't focused on any of it then. I was focused on keeping you alive." A beat. "... I don't know how much you've read of Lestat or the books David wrote for others, but - there are things we can't do as vampires. Like eat food, or go into the sun, those are basic knowledge. And... sex."

He swallowed hard. "But Fareed, he'd started making advances in that department. Lestat tried the first wave of that, it was how he ended up with his son, Viktor... then other medications, a sort of over the counter option, but why stop there? A longer term option would be better, you know? Like a long lasting injectable. But you'd need to... cultivate it. Fine tune it. Having an immortal petri dish to try it out in."

mirroredxmusings

Jory was quiet for a long moment, the weight of what Daniel had just told him settling over him like a heavy blanket. And somewhere in the distance a siren wailed through the empty streets of downtown LA. But here, on this bench under the purple glow of the bell tower, there was only the two of them and the enormity of what Daniel had endured.

"A petri dish," Jory repeated softly, his voice tight with barely contained anger. "He used you as a petri dish. Without..." He stopped, swallowed hard, his free hand clenching into a fist against his thigh. "Did you even consent to half of that, Daniel? Or did Marius just... push you into it and Fareed saw an opportunity?"

He turned to face Daniel more fully, his eyes searching his maker's face in the dim light. There was fury there, yes and a protective rage on Daniel's behalf but underneath it was something deeper. Concern. Fear, even.

"The blood draws, the testing... how long did that go on?" Jory's grip on Daniel's hand tightened. "And is it still happening? Are you still in contact with Fareed, or? He paused, a terrible realization dawning. "Is that why you left? Did you run from him?"

He leaned closer, his voice dropping lower, more urgent. "I need to know if you're still in danger, Daniel. If Fareed is still looking for you, still wanting to use you for his experiments. Because if he is, we need to figure out what that means. We need to know what we're dealing with."

Jory's jaw clenched as he processed the image of Daniel being treated like some kind of lab rat, being exploited by someone he'd trusted enough to go to for help. "And the fertility work... the injections..." He trailed off, not quite sure how to ask, but needing to know. "Did he test that on you too?"

daniel-james-molloy

Daniel saw the emotions play out in Jory's reactions and heard it in his voice, and both gratitude and comfort flooded through him at that protective tone and look, even if he also felt a flash of guilt at worrying him.

"-- I wouldn't go so far as to call it 'fertility' work," Daniel murmured, shaking his head again. "As I understand it Viktor is a clone. He wasn't conceived in a normal way, even if Lestat did have sex with that woman, Flannery... given my issues, I wasn't and I'm still not an ideal immortal to replicate. So I don't think there's any little clone of me running around somewhere... especially not with how the court thinks about vampires like me."

He paused, again grounding himself in the assurance of Jory's hold on his hand, that they were there together, and that with Jory, he felt safe.

"... It was the injection advancements he wanted me for," Danial finally continued. "I'm not scientifically minded, but from what I could understand, whatever drug he'd come up, whatever hormone cocktail it was, he'd bonded it to and stabilized it with immortal blood. Ancient blood, some blend of it, I'm not exactly sure who but I'd lay odds on some of Seth's being in there. But testing it on older immortals was going to take longer; Fareed said months, maybe longer of prolonged treatments to get enough of the stuff to have an effect on those older in the blood, and he didn't or wasn't allowed to just go injecting younger, newer made immortals with that much powerful blood because they'd get all kinds of advancements of the Dark Gifts as a side effect without being prepared. I'm still under fifty years in the blood, and knowing ancient blood doesn't seem to have the same kind of affect on me..."

He trailed off, his gaze growing momentarily distant as he remembered that first conversation; of Fareed explaining things, and Marius' reaction to it all when it had been presented to the both of them during that visit to the labratory.

"I wasn't exactly forced," He continued, softer, his focused dropping to their joined hands. "I was... encouraged. Told to think about the greater implications of it, for all of our kind, for the advancement of immortal science. So... I agreed. I just didn't know when I did what all was involved." Daniel looked up at Jory again, his brow creased lightly with worry over the admission. "I lost track of how many injections I had over a period of about three months, I just ended up feeling like a pincushion, and Fareed kept wanting to up the dose and he did... and it worked."

Daniel made a vague gesture to his own groin. "Fully functional like when I was still mortal, just... not capable of conception since our bodily fluid is mostly blood or a mix of it, but that's never been anything I've given a shit about being able to do. I just... I got tired of that being what I ended up being there for more than getting any help for what I went there about in the first place. And I got tired of being questioned, and poked and prodded, and having scientists more interested in my dick than my brain."

He lapsed into silence again for a moment, thought back again to those years when it had all taken place. "... I was supposed to go back for a last few follow ups with Fareed, and never did... but when I left the court and everyone that first time, it wasn't because of that. It was because things had broken down between me and Marius, and because Armand was there - he was constantly there, always interjecting himself into our lives, unwelcomed... or so I'd thought. Now looking back, and knowing what I do now, Marius wanted him there. Wanted him, and was using me to keep him coming back for more."

Daniel tightened his hold on Jory's hand. "I don't know if Fareed has ever tried looking for me. I'm not strong in a lot of ways in the gifts but I'm good at blocking other immortals when I'm not out of my mind, as good as I am at listening to others thoughts when they don't think they can be heard... and I was asleep for so long, I don't think anyone could have found me during all that time."

He searched Jory's eyes, the worry in his own evident. "I just... don't think Fareed or any of the other researchers ever considered the possibility that the effects would be so long lasting, or that it could ever be passed on to a fledgling, and for your sake I don't want them to ever know. Because then they might come looking, for both of us. You've never had any of the medications or injections, have you?"

mirroredxmusings

"No," Jory said firmly. "Nothing. No injections, no medications. You made sure of that." He shifted closer on the bench, his hand coming up to cup Daniel's face. "Months of being used like a commodity, and Marius knew. He encouraged it." His thumb brushed across Daniel's cheekbone. "But you said the effects are long lasting. What does that mean? Does it impact me? Does it mark us both if they ever found out?"

He didn't wait for an answer before continuing, his voice fierce and certain. "Whatever this is, we figure it out together. And if Fareed or anyone else from that court ever comes looking, they're going to have to go through me first. You're not a tool. You're mine, and I protect what's mine."

#|| long time no see thread ||#|| mirroredxmusings ||#daniel james molloy

daniel-james-molloy

Ground Zero | Closed Starter | @mirroredxmusings

From the outside it was as he remembered it; the windows, the trees, thought now they were larger, the sound of the ocean gently lapping the shore in the backyard that extended all the way to the water's edge.

How the house looked from where he stood now in front of it was one of the very few memories Daniel had retained of this place. A snapshot, and one he, regrettably, was almost certain was the sight of it as he'd been leaving, a quick glance over his shoulder as he'd told himself, "I just need air, I'll go for a walk..."

The lights from the busier parts of Night Island lit up the smattering of clouds overhead, brightening the night even as the moon was partially obscured, made everything, especially the house seem to almost glow.

He tightened his hold on Jory's hand and glanced at him. In the other hand he carried the small box he'd stowed the fortune cookie in that Jory had given him a few nights prior, kept safe and close.

"... You ready?"

mirroredxmusings

Jory stood in front of the house, the memories crashing over him like waves against the shore. He recalled that night he had woken to find Daniel gone, initially thinking it strange that he would leave for a hunt without him. But he had dismissed the thought, convincing himself it was nothing.

At first, he waited, believing Daniel would return shortly. Hours trickled by, and as the night wore on, a gnawing worry began to take root in his gut. The silence stretched around him, amplifying his anxiety, and with every passing moment, the sense of unease grew heavier.

When dawn broke, he found himself unable to shake the fear that had settled deep within him. He had tried to stay awake, longing for Daniel's presence, but exhaustion eventually pulled him into the death-like sleep that every vampire knows too well.

Now, standing before the house with Daniel by his side, those haunting memories threatened to resurface. Jory tightened his grip on Daniel's hand, grounding himself. He looked up, meeting Daniel's gaze, determination flickering in his eyes. “I’m ready,” he said softly, though a part of him still trembled at the thought of facing those memories again. “We’ll get through this together.”

daniel-james-molloy

Stepping past the threshold felt like crossing into a different time. The air was stale and heavy, slow to dissipate through the open front door behind them and into the Florida night outside where the pavement still radiated the daytime heat hours after sundown.

Daniel scanned the entryway and living room and did his best to remain calm and focused, pushing down the trepidation that was trilling persistent and low inside. The furniture were like ghosts, shapes softened and distorted by drop cloth.

He paused and closed his eyes, silently willing his mind to empty of everything but a single thought.

Remember.

He opened his eyes and looked around the space again.

"... It's hard to tell sometimes," he finally murmured, turning to look at Jory, "If it's memory or not, or what I wish or hoped happened." Daniel paused again and tilted his head, the words catching hesitant before he asked, "... Have we danced together in the living room here? Not like at the club but.. slow. To a record an-"

A different memory intersected the first.

"... The bathroom has tile." Daniel turned but didn't go there yet, merely looked in the direction of the house he guessed - no, knew that the bathroom and bedroom were in. "... It definitely has tile."

He meant to look back at Jory again but his gaze snapped to the living room window opposite and out into the backyard down to the beach.

The beach had been so bright with all of the candlelight, the little lanterns.

"... That was the first thing I really remembered when I woke up," Daniel breathed, still staring out at the water's edge. "Your name, and standing with you out there."

He finally looked at Jory then, turned fully to face him. He released his fledgling's hand in favor of stroking his cheek, eyes full of both affection and worry. "... I still don't remember our vows, but I remember how I felt that night."

mirroredxmusings

Jory leaned into Daniel's touch, eyes closing for a moment, not from comfort, but to hide the way they threatened to burn. His hand covered Daniel's, holding it against his cheek perhaps a beat too long, fingers trembling slightly before he steadied them.

"That's what matters," he managed, voice soft but strained at the edges. "How you felt."

He turned his face to press a kiss to Daniel's palm, using the moment to breathe, slow, careful, fighting the tightness in his chest. When he pulled back to meet Daniel's eyes, his smile was gentle, practiced. Real enough. Broken underneath.

"We did dance here," Jory said quietly, the memory both precious and excruciating. "To old records. You wanted to make this place ours."

His thumb stroked Daniel's knuckles, grounding himself in the contact even as it hurt, this tenderness from someone who didn't remember promising forever, who didn't remember the vows Jory still carried like prayers.

Then Jory followed Daniel's gaze toward the window, out to the beach beyond.

He could see it so clearly, the way the sand had glowed amber and gold that night, hundreds of candles flickering in glass lanterns they'd placed together that evening. The ocean had been calm, whispering against the shore like a benediction. They both wore white linen, barefoot in the sand.

I promise to love you in this life and whatever comes after.

Daniel's voice, steady and sure. The vows he'd written himself, spoken with his hands holding Jory's, eyes never wavering.

I promise you'll never be alone.

Jory's throat constricted. He remembered every word. Every promise. The way Daniel had kissed him, the way they'd danced on that beach until the candles burned low, the way they had made love like it was something sacred.

And now Daniel stood beside him, remembering the feeling but not the words. Not the promises that had shattered eight years ago when he'd left.

Jory's jaw tightened. His free hand curled into a fist at his side, nails biting into his palm to keep himself anchored, to keep from breaking apart right here.

"I'm glad we came back," he whispered, and meant it. Even if it was killing him. Even if every corner of this house, every grain of sand on that beach, was a ghost of what they'd been.

He squeezed Daniel's hand gently, holding himself together through sheer will.

"I'm here. However long it takes."

The words were true. The composure behind them was barely holding

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The worry only increased when Daniel felt the subtle tremor in Jory's hand, heard the strain in his voice, saw the flex of Jory's jaw and the tension that moved through him.

Each of those minute details underscored the way that distinct place in Daniel's chest ached, the bond pervasive as ever between them but quivering under the gravity of the moment, under the weight of numberless regrets and loss.

He looked around the living room again, took a moment to set the boxed fortune cookie on the sideboard and paused as he did, more memory slowly rising and surfacing.

"Old records," he echoed, and took a step toward the center of the room, then another. "Presley... The Ronettes... The Righteous Brothers..."

Daniel hesitated, then closed his eyes, head tilting as he focused on what came and called for him; the music soft but distinct in his mind.

"... Take my hand, take my whole life too," he whispered the lyrics soft and low, remembering the way the lamplight had warmed the room, the overhead lights off, the way Jory had smiled at him as they swayed in time to the songs. "For I can't help falling in love with you.."

He remembered so many times Jory had sung soft and low to him.

He remembered the way Jory had looked at him as they'd danced together in that room. How tenderly he'd held him, as if Daniel were something precious.

Like something he didn't want to lose.

Daniel turned back to look at Jory again, struggled to form words against the tightness that formed and lodged in his throat.

How swiftly he'd destroyed the delicate thing they'd made.

That he'd never meant to somehow felt worse.

That he'd let his fear and instability eclipse his love for this man crushed him from the inside out.

The senselessness of it was maddening.

Daniel finally closed the distance between them again, caught hold of Jory's hand once more, anchoring himself in the now, refused to let the past sweep him up into another cycle that could send him spiraling.

"Even when it's hard," he breathed, reaffirming what he'd promised to Jory the same night they'd reunited again, even if the words were unsteady when they came out.

It took another moment before he spoke again, preparing himself for what he wanted to see next. "... Where are our rings again?"

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"I know where they are," Jory said softly. "I've kept them safe."

He squeezed Daniel's hand once before letting go, then crossed to the antique curio cabinet in the corner. His hand trembled as he reached for the brass handle. He steadied it and pulled.

There, on the second shelf, sat the small velvet box. Beside it, in a silver frame, was the photograph. The selfie Jory had taken while driving, Daniel caught mid-turn toward the camera, mouth open in laughter, one hand reaching out as if to steal Jory's phone.

Jory lifted the velvet box first, navy blue and worn soft at the corners. He opened it with a soft click.

Two bands gleamed against ivory satin, black as midnight but alive with color. Jory's ring shimmering with deep purple undertones like twilight, Daniel's catching the light in warm amber gold, like sunset trapped in obsidian.

Not one. Two.

Daniel's ring, where Jory had placed it the weeks after Daniel left. And beside it, Jory's own ring. The one he'd worn faithfully for a year, waiting. The one he'd finally removed when he'd accepted the truth: Daniel wasn't coming back.

Forever begins tonight, the engraving read on the inside of each band.

Forever had lasted exactly one year.

He took the photograph too and turned back toward Daniel. His hands were steadier now, though his eyes betrayed everything.

"Here," he whispered, setting the photo on the sideboard before holding out the open box. "Our rings."

He tilted it so the rings caught the light, purple twilight and amber gold gleaming against black. "I wore mine for a year after you left. Every night. Waiting." His jaw tightened. "And then I couldn't anymore. I put it back in the box. Left the island."

His gaze lifted to meet Daniel's, raw and unguarded.

"I stopped waiting for someone who was never coming back."

The words hung between them, tender and devastating. He held the box out to Daniel like a question, like a confession, like the last fragile truth between them.

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Daniel was silent as he looked down at the box held out between them, at the way the rings glittered and shone, as bright as their hopes had been that night years ago on the beach.

He remembered the look in Jory's eyes, that look the one that had come with the memory of his name.

It almost broke Daniel when he looked up and saw the pain where that hope had been in Jory's eyes now. He didn't need to remember the exact words he'd vowed to know the devastation left in his wake.

He felt that pain echoed through the tightness in his chest, felt it in the way the bond ached and strained.

Daniel reached out again and took hold of the box, his fingers resting against Jory's as he did, his own gaze open and holding nothing back.

"I still want this with you," he whispered, the words unsteady not from a lack of certainty, but from the deep tremor of feeling that demanded they be spoken. "Even without the words, I- I know what I had to have said. Had to have promised you - because how I felt at just the thought you..."

Daniel paused, his eyes closing for a moment as he let the memory of waking and remembering rise, and with it, the surge of feeling.

The sudden tidal wave of emotion that had crashed over him and brought with it Jory's name and a tangle of memory with it. It had overwhelmed him, the depth of that love and he'd torn up out of the ground and surfaced, gasping and at it's mercy.

He opened his eyes again and searched Jory's, his voice thick with feeling. "Are you sure you still want this with me, after everything? To keep choosing this, us, every night?"

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For a moment he couldn't speak, couldn't do anything but stand there with Daniel's fingers resting against his on the velvet box, the rings gleaming between them like a promise that had shattered once already.

"Sure?" The word came out rough, almost broken. "Daniel, I wore this ring every single night for a year. I waited for you on that beach until the sun came up more times than I can count.

"I..."His voice cracked. He steadied himself, jaw tight.

"Taking it off nearly killed me. It meant accepting you were gone. That you'd chosen to stay gone." His eyes burned but he didn't look away. "And I did it anyway. I survived it. I left the island because staying meant drowning in waiting for someone who wasn't coming back."

He shook his head and a sigh deeply.

"So am I sure?" His free hand came up to cup Daniel's face, thumb brushing his cheekbone with devastating gentleness. "I've been sure since the moment I saw you again. Since before you remembered my name. The question isn't whether I want this..or want you."

His voice dropped to barely a whisper, raw and undefended.

"The question is whether you're sure. Whether you can choose this, choose me, every night, even when the memories are hard. Even when you remember why you left." His thumb traced Daniel's jaw. "Because I can't survive losing you twice, Daniel. I won't."

The words hung between them, tender and terrified and absolutely true.

"So yes. I'm sure. I've always been sure." His eyes searched Daniel's face. "Are you?"

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Daniel resisted the deeply ingrained urge to turn his face into that touch, refused to break eye contact with Jory, not even for that tenderness he appreciated and yearned for deep to his very core.

Instead he lifted his own hand and mirrored it, pressed his palm to Jory's cheek in return as he took a deliberate pause to feel the weight of the moment and commit it to memory, hoping to sear it in himself so it couldn't become lost like so many other memories had.

"I'm sure." The words were soft but steady.

Certain.

He stroked his fingertips along the curve of Jory's jaw. "I want this. I choose this, I choose you."

He let his hand fall but only to reach into the box, to take out the black and purple band. "No matter how hard or painful. Nothing is as painful as the absence of you was... and I'm sorry I made you know what that was like too. That I hurt you. If.. if I could change just one thing in my life, that would be it."

He took Jory's hand and carefully slipped the ring onto his finger, only then looking away to do so before glancing back up, his eyes shining with the welling of sudden but unshed tears, the bond thrumming stronger now. Resolute.

"No matter what. I want you." He pressed his hand to Jory's chest and felt his own heartbeat quicken in response. "No one, nothing else compares. Not even close. So yes. I want this. I want us."

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The ring settled onto his finger, black band, purple inlay catching moonlight. Foreign and achingly familiar all at once. Jory stared down at it, couldn't breathe, could only feel the cool metal against his skin and the ghost of every night he'd worn it before, waiting on that beach until dawn threatened to burn him alive.

Daniel's hand pressed against his chest, and Jory's heart quickened beneath that touch like it recognized home. The bond between them thrummed stronger, wrapping around his ribs until he thought he might break from the intensity.

I want you. No matter what.

Something in Jory's chest cracked open, not breaking, but unfurling. He looked up and saw the blood tears shining in Daniel's eyes. Saw the remorse and love and absolute certainty. This wasn't the Daniel who had left him. This was the Daniel who had chosen to come back.

Jory moved, pulled Daniel into his arms with desperate violence. Buried his face against Daniel's neck.

"I waited for you," he whispered, raw and broken. "Every night I waited."

His fingers curled into Daniel's shirt, holding on like Daniel might disappear. "I love you so much it terrifies me. Because losing you once nearly destroyed me, and I..."

The silence between them settled soft and sacred. Jory's breathing had steadied, his forehead still against Daniel's, when his gaze caught on something small and golden on the nearby table.

The fortune cookie box.

He pulled back slowly, hand trembling, not from fear, but from the overwhelming enormity of loving someone this much. Of needing them this desperately.

"Will you open it?" The words came out broken, barely a whisper. "Please?" He held it out to Daniel like he was offering his heart, raw and undefended, asking to be held gently.

His eyes burned as he searched Daniel's face. This was trust. Devotion. Him saying I'm choosing to believe in us even though the terror of losing Daniel again lived in his bones. "I need something good," his voice cracked. "Something that says we get to keep this. That the universe isn't going to take you away from me again."

A prayer wrapped in paper-thin sugar.

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Daniel's heart ached; at the way Jory looked down at the ring on his finger, how he drew him in and held on to him as if he might disappear right within the strong hold of Jory's arms, at the fractured way he spoke of how he'd waited for him.

He wrapped his own arms around Jory, hand not still clutching the ring box sliding up to cradle Jory's head when he buried his face against his neck, tenderness and fierce protectiveness welling up in equal measure within himself as he did, the words Jory had sent him over text that first night he's reached out rising up in his mind.

You unmade me.

The evidence of it laid bare within his own arms, in the broken admission Jory had spoken now.

I love you so much it terrifies me.

The unshed tears in his eyes fell when Jory moved to take up the box with the fortune cookie and held it out, the desperate plea for him to open it and his haunted expression when he said it catching at something deep inside both Daniel's chest and mind and tearing wide.

The bond surged and he was flooded with a sudden wave of emotion, caught in the riptide of it.

He knew this feeling, intimately; of fragile hope coupled with a bracing for impending despair.

Knew the crushing weight having that hope shattered.

How many times had he held his own heart out in a similar way and had it dashed into pieces again and again and again?

Daniel set the ring box down on the table and reached out for the one in Jory's hands now, nodding as his fingers brushed his fledgling's as he did so, the touch gentle - gentle in the way he'd always wanted and needed in the wake of so much ruin.

"Yes," he whispered, I'll open it."

He lifted the lid, then lifted out the cookie; feather-light, as fragile as the look in Jory's eyes.

Daniel set the box beside the one for the rings and looked up again, held Jory's gaze with his own, words spoken with hushed reverence.

"No matter what it says, though, I mean it. I want you and I want us. I choose you. Not anything or anyone else. You."

He took Jory's hands and guided them to help cup the cookie, and Daniel smiled up at him, utterly unmindful of the bloody tears sliding down his own face, eyes full of unwavering love and fathomless certainty.

"Let's open it together."

He pressed their hands together and felt the cookie break between their palms.

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The cookie crumbled between their joined hands, sugar-sweet fragments falling away. The slip of paper revealed itself, and Jory watched Daniel's face as his eyes found the words.

Marry me...again

Three words in Jory's own careful handwriting. Three words he'd folded into that cookie himself, hands trembling as he'd sealed it back up, as he'd placed it in the box and waited for this exact moment.

A smile curved across Jory's lips, not broken, not desperate, but radiant with certainty. With intention. He'd orchestrated every second of this, and now Daniel was reading the words Jory had written for him.

"I put them there," Jory said softly, his voice steady despite the blood tears tracking down his own face now. "I wrote them for you."

His fingers tightened around Daniel's, the broken cookie and its message pressed between their palms like a vow.

"You came back." The words emerged tender and fierce all at once. "After eight years, you came back for me. You could have stayed away. You could have let the distance win. But you didn't."

Jory brought their joined hands up between them, the slip of paper visible in the space where their fingers intertwined.

"Eight years ago, you chose me. You made me yours." His smile widened, absolute and unwavering. "You came back, and now I'm choosing you. I'm asking you."

He held Daniel's gaze, unflinching, unafraid.

"Marry me again, Daniel. Not because fate says so. Not because some fortune cookie tells us to." His voice dropped to a whisper, intimate and certain. "Because you came back for me, and I want you. Because I choose you. Because I'm done waiting for the universe to decide if we get to keep this."

Jory's thumb brushed across Daniel's knuckles, gentle and deliberate.

"You returned to me after all this time. Now let me return to you completely."

He leaned in, forehead touching Daniel's, their breath mingling in the space between.

"Marry me...again."

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A soft exhale of surprise escaped Daniel's lips as he looked down at the slip of paper in their hands, those three words and then the look in Jory's eyes when he glanced up again momentarily robbing him of speech, as he let every word his fledgling had written and said land and settle.

Then his mouth split in a bright and unrestrained smile, even as the blood tears continued to slip down his face, as he shook the cookie crumbs from a hand before lifting it to brush at one streak of red also coursing down Jory's cheeks.

"- Yes."

Daniel bridged that minute gap between them, pressed an ardent kiss to Jory's lips, the rest of the words that followed tumbling out half whispered and urgent between more kisses that he pepper over Jory's face; his temple, the bridge of his nose, his chin, his lips again - everywhere he could reach.

"Yes... I'll marry you - every night if you wanted it, again, and again -"

He threw both arms around him, the fortune still tightly clasped in a hand, and buried his face into Jory's shoulder, holding tight as he said it again, the word muffled but still distinct and said with deeply felt and unshakable certainty, the intense and overwhelming swell of love and devotion he felt so strong it seemed it might break him wide open.

"Yes."

Daniel continued to embrace onto Jory tightly, unwilling to let go for a long, long moment; and when he finally drew back it was only enough to kiss him again and lean forehead to forehead, violet eyes locked on amber ones once more as the gravity of the moment and the steady hum of their connection held them there.

"I love you endlessly."

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Daniel's yes, repeated, breathless, absolute, shattered something in Jory's chest and remade it whole all at once. He kissed him back with everything he had, tasting copper and devotion and the promise of forever on Daniel's lips. The blood tears that streaked Daniel's face were iron-rich, and Jory drank them in like they were sacred.

When they finally broke apart, Jory was trembling. Not from fear or uncertainty, but from the sheer weight of joy, of having Daniel here, saying yes, meaning it with every fiber of his being.

"Wait," Jory whispered against Daniel's mouth, and he reached blindly for the small velvet box on the table beside them. His fingers found it, steady now with purpose.

He drew back just enough to look at Daniel, really look at him, violet eyes shining with blood tears and love and absolute certainty. Jory opened the box to reveal the matching ring: black band, amber inlay catching the soft light like captured fire.

"You gave me one," Jory said, his voice thick with emotion. "Now I'm giving you one."

He took Daniel's left hand and gently uncurled his fingers. Jory slid the ring onto Daniel's fourth finger. It settled there perfectly, a mirror to the one on Jory's own hand.

Two rings. Two choices. Two halves of a circle finally complete.

Jory brought Daniel's hand to his lips, kissed the ring, kissed the skin beneath it.

"I love you too," he breathed. "Endlessly. Completely."

He pulled Daniel close, their foreheads pressed together once more, their connection thrumming between them like a second heartbeat.

"We'll stay tonight," Jory said softly. "Stay here, in this place. Let yourself remember, all of it. The good, the hard, all the nights we built something sacred in these rooms." His fingers traced gentle patterns along Daniel's spine. "We owe it to what we were, to honor it before we leave it behind."

Jory drew back just enough to meet Daniel's eyes, his hand still clasped with his.

"And tomorrow, when the sun sets, we say goodbye to the past. We leave this island, leave the ghosts, leave the eight years of waiting." His voice was steady, certain, forward-looking. "We go home together. We build something new, something that's ours, not haunted by what we lost."

Jory smiled, and it was radiant with hope and purpose.

"Tonight we remember. Tomorrow we begin again."

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The fervent way Jory kissed him back was enough to leave Daniel dizzied and elated, and he held tight to his fledgling, quivering as well from the force of his own emotions when they broke apart.

His gaze softened when Jory took his hand and slipped the wedding band onto his finger, quietly awed at how after so long there was still a familiarity in seeing and feeling it there, but now unaccompanied by the fears and trepidation he'd known those years before.

Daniel only felt a sense of rightness in it, of completion.

The light caught the shimmer of the inlayed band and he had to swallow hard against the rush of emotion that again surged seeing it.

He'd never willingly remove the ring again.

He melted into Jory when he drew him near, felt the way their bond seemed to wrap them both in it's steady warmth and hold, just as sure and strong as Jory's arms around him, and both gave him the courage he needed for what was to come.

"Help me remember?"

He searched Jory's eyes, the amber of them the same as the band on his finger, just as the violet in Jory's ring matched his own, and Daniel's brow furrowed again as he felt a stirring, a whisper of something rising - a memory?

He was never certain and he so wanted to be.

"I want to remember, Jory. I don't want to be caught in up by the past and not knowing, for your sake and mine. I want our fresh start... but I need your help."

He lifted his free hand to stroke his lover's cheek again, kept his gaze locked with Jory's as he tried to follow that thread of something, the fragment of something he couldn't quiet catch hold of.

"... Was there something you asked me? Something you'd wanted... before, back then. Or is my mind just... spitting out nonsense again?"

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Jory felt the shift in Daniel's energy, the way his lover's mind was reaching for something just beyond the veil of memory. He watched the furrow deepen between Daniel's brows, saw the struggle there, and his chest tightened with understanding.

"Did I ask you something?" Jory repeated softly, his voice gentle with confusion and curiosity. He tilted his head slightly, studying Daniel's face as if he could read the fragments his lover was grasping for. "What are you sensing, Daniel? What's the memory trying to tell you?"

Jory's thumb continued its slow, soothing motion against Daniel's palm grounding him, keeping him tethered to the present moment even as his mind reached backward.

"Tell me what you're feeling," Jory urged, his amber eyes searching violet ones. "Don't force it. Just... what's there? What's the shape of it?"

He waited, patient and present, ready to help Daniel piece together whatever was surfacing—whether it was the proposal, or something older, something from before the eight years of silence. Either way, Jory would be here to help him find it.

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The shape of it.

The question made Daniel try to even harder to catch whatever it was that had come slithering through his mind; again no remembered words came and no solid memory, just fragments. Flashes like still photographs. Quick and sudden trills of remembered emotion.

" -- Confusion. Fear." He looked up at Jory again, his hand closing lightly against his fledgling's and his expression softened for a moment as he focused on the way Jory's thumb stroked his palm.

"... After I turned you, but before I left... did we disagree, or fight about something?"

Daniel paused again, his eyes dropping to focus on their joined hands. "... There's so much I can't remember from when we were together before, and -- I resent my own mind for not being able to hold onto the things I want to remember the most, when I can still remember so much of things I actually wish I could forget."

He looked up at Jory again. "Even if there are things that aren't happy, I want to remember them. I'd rather have the hard memories if there are ones I should know about, than nothing at all."

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Daniel was silent as he listened, as the words settled and he felt the weight of the past sink into him.

As sudden realization rose to meet it.

"Months." The word was whispered.

He finally lifted his eyes to meet Jory's, and there was no hiding the sorrow there, the grief, or the shame.

"I.... I didn't realize it was months."

Daniel looked back out at the water, turned what Jory had said over and over in his mind before he spoke again.

"I... lose time. When I'm not well." A beat. ".... It wasn't just guilt over turning you, Jory. I wouldn't have wanted you to have the burden of a sick companion, I would have wanted to spare you that... seeing me like that. Having to deal with... me, like that."

He paused again a pained, wry sound catching low in his throat. "But it sounds like you already were, since I.. don't remember any of that. Except the night I left."

The urge to hide from this was strong, but Daniel kept his hold on Jory's hand. Fought the ingrained and deeply rooted habit of fleeing.

He stayed, and he let the feeling rise again, followed it's pull deeper and into memory.

"... The night I left, I -- I realized I wasn't well. I didn't know how much already but.. I panicked."

The sound of the ocean lapping against the shore filled the moment of silence.

"... The fear of you seeing me like that, so soon. Unable to take care of you because I can't even take care of myself when I'm at my worst, and... and once anyone sees me like that, or hears about what I'm like when it's like that..."

Daniel lifted his free hand absently, touched his own forehead lightly with unsteady fingertips. ".. I was afraid. That that would be what made you look at me and... understand why the others treat me like they do."

He looked at Jory again, and the blood tears had returned, coursing down his face, his voice cracking. "I was afraid I'd see you look at me the way everyone else does. That I'd see the moment you realized I'm wreckage and fall out of love with me."

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Jory watched the tears streak down Daniel's face, watched him tremble with the effort of staying present instead of running. He didn't move to wipe them away or offer reassurance that felt easy. Instead, he tightened his grip on Daniel's hand.

When he spoke, his voice was steady. Certain.

"I've seen you at your worst, Daniel. Not just that night you left. Before that. During those months when you were pulling away from me. When you couldn't look at me without flinching. I felt that through the bond. I was there. And I didn't stop loving you."

Jory's jaw clenched slightly, anger flickering beneath the tenderness.

"And I'm still here. I'm choosing to be here, knowing what I know now. Knowing there are nights when you lose time, knowing you're afraid, knowing you have a sickness that has nothing to do with being a vampire and everything to do with being human in ways that terrify you."

He brought their joined hands to his chest, over his heart.

"The others treat you the way they do because they're cowards. Because they see struggle and call it weakness. But wreckage?" He shook his head firmly. "You're not wreckage, Daniel. You're someone who's survived this long carrying all of this alone. And you're still here, still fighting, still loving me even when you're convinced I should hate you for it."

Jory's voice softened but didn't waver.

"I need you to hear this. I fell in love with all of you. Not the parts you think are acceptable or the parts you think are beautiful. All of it. The fear, the struggle, the nights when you're lost. That's not a burden I tolerate. It's part of who you are, and I choose it."

He lifted Daniel's face slightly with their joined hands, forcing him to stay in this moment of being seen.

"So no. You won't see me look at you the way they do. Because I already see you as you are, and I'm still here. I'm still choosing you."

The moment stretched between them, infinite and still.

"And you're still mine, Daniel."

#|| ground zero ||#|| mirroredxmusings ||#danieljamesmolloy

mirroredxmusings

Hunger in Honey Island Swamp: Circa 2019

Jory lingered on Night Island far longer than he’d meant to, restless and hollow, waiting night after night for Daniel to return. Each hour stretched painfully, the hush of the waves and the distant laughter from the dockside only sharpening the ache of absence. An immortal abandoned and he’d never imagined it would be him.

When it finally became unbearable, he left the island under a bruised sky, clutching at the faint hope that Daniel was waiting for him somewhere else. The west coast was next, and Jory tore through cities like a storm, chasing rumors, haunting empty streets, desperate for even the smallest trace of his maker. A scent, a whisper, some proof that Daniel was still out there. But there was nothing. Just silence and the gnawing, ceaseless thirst that made his loneliness feel like starvation.

Desperate and running on hope’s last fumes, he doubled back, following every aching memory until he found himself lost in the depths of Honey Island Swamp. The swamp’s thick, humid air offered no comfort, the world pressing in with every step. Late at night, he stumbled into a shabby dive bar, shadows swallowing the corners, the air heavy with spilled liquor and regret. Jory sat hunched at the end of the counter, blood-starved, trembling, and raw.

Those pretty amber eyes that once shimmered with light and mischief were hollow now. A beautiful face still, but empty inside. The glimmer was gone, leaving him with a haunted, aching beauty that no one in the bar dared approach.

What had he done wrong? Was it a single word, a careless mistake, some flaw in his nature that pushed Daniel away? Or was Daniel dead and gone without a trace. Or worse, simply unwilling to be found? Each question scraped at him, fierce and relentless. Alone, desperate, and afraid, Jory could only wait and wonder if he’d ever see his maker again, or if he’d been left to wander the dark forever, searching for something that would never return.

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In his short stays in the Americas, Everard had never been to Louisiana before. Films, books and acquaintences had often spoken fondly of it, but Everard was not the traveling type, nor inclined to be curious for foreign cultures. The only thing that had slightly excited him to come along with David, was the music. He was promised blues, Motown, soul and jazz of the highest caliber, music that made the heart sing and the soul breathe a sigh of relief. But even that would not have convinced him to make the arduous journey across the world. It had been David's insisting that he hated to go see his bloodkin and Everard being on the other side of the planet. He did not want to spend hours on the phone, if Everard could just as well, for once, get off the metaphorical couch and come along. He had agreed.

And regretted it as soon as they were on the plane.

Some existential dread always overtook Everard whenever he was transported by a giant mode of transport without any seemingly obvious ability to brake. David always found this highly amusing, but he was also thankful that Everard was willing to go through that just for him. David knew Everard was not the biggest fan of David's 'part of the family' and knew Everard would not be joining him every night he visited them.

And this was one of those nights. He was going to see the musicians together with David later this week, but tonight he ventured off to taste the breeding ground of music for himself.

The rumours had been true. It was phenominal. He had spent little moments of fifteen minutes to half an hour watching street performers play their heart out, and spent two to three hours just mingling among the mortals in the crowded, festering bars. Living in Italy, he was used to some heat, but this was different. It was clammy and heavy and carried the scent of blood of the warm bodies around him like a thick, pregnant layer of cream on a well brewed cappuccino.

The thirst had eventually pulled him away from the crowds and he had wandered off to find a place to feed that was easier to steal a person away from.

He must have taken the wrong turn. The scent of the swamp suddenly pulsed towards him like a sick heartbeat ready to boil and he quickly found himself in an area where he could not have looked more out of place, with his custom cut clothes, European jewellery, pale face and silky hair. He saw one last bar before the street disolved into marshland, but fully aware of his eccentric appearance, Everard knew snatching a victim out of a seedy little bar would never go undetected. He made the very quick and simple descision to turn around and try elsewhere, until he captures the heartbeat of another immortal and it came from the bar. He listened to it for a while, wondering if it sounded familiar. He might have recognised it, had he not only searched for recognition within the vampires he had met with the whole Amel fiasco. The heartbeat was not particularly strong and had the rumble of a young one. There was a sense of curiousity to see the creature, but he was thirsting and so he decided to turn around and deal with that first.

Once finally fed, his now momentarily more enhanced hearing still caught the young one's heartbeat. With some revitalised ambition to find some more entertainment for the rest of the night, Everard decided to go see what he was dealing with.

He finally entered the bar and as expected all eyes turned on him, wondering what this gaudily decked-out dracula was doing in their regular pub. Used to it- and admittedly enjoying it- Everard made no effort to make himself small or apologise for his presence. In fact, he stopped right dead centre in the middle of the bar, hands casually in his pockets and his eyes on the creature in the corner. He knew his own age and the tremendously powerful Blood in his veins often scared the shit out of young ones and he always liked to play with them when he was fed, in an obnoxious mood or was simply looking for entertainment.

'The audacity to show up here unsheparoned by older Blood either shows you are very brave or very suicidal.' he sent to the young one's mind through Mind Gift.

He had not yet recognised the creature, or his words might have been picked a bit more subtly.

mirroredxmusings

everarddelanden

He rambled a lot. But nothing much of what the young one said registered. For the moment the young vampire had pulled his head out of his slump, Everard had recognised that unique face immediately. Recalling his name took longer than the visual memories that came washing back. New York, luxury hotel rooms, hot delicious blood, breath and heartbeat, the tattoos scattered over the man's body challenging Everard to 'find them all'. Davis. Jory Davis.

He did not smell the same, or Everard might have recognised him sooner. Pity. What a life and warm man wasted. But what grotesque coincidence it was to now find him here, undead, in a swamp where Everard would never have ended up, had he not taken a wrong turn. Vampire. It was too much for his mind to comprehend right now and so he just stared, too still, as Jory stumbled off his bar stool and cowered before him, recognising Everard now for what he was. And if Jory had had any bit of experience yet with other vampires since then- his sire no doubt- he knew the magnetic pull that came with the territory. Jory probably now realising that his interactions with Everard had potentially been involuntary. The idea repulsed Everard, only manipulating the minds of those he intended to kill, he had not used his fiendish trickery on Jory, and yet a mortal was quite defenseless against the pull of a vampire. In any given scenario, whether Jory had wanted to spend his nights with Everard, the truth was and would always remain, that there was always an aspect of manipulation at play on the vampire's part. Everard could understand if it repulsed Jory too.

Jory's hands went up. He was scared. What tyrants had Jory ran into to already have this response with someone he knew? Or was Jory's maker the culprit? Could they shake hands on that department? The sizzling crowd with their slack-mouthed gazes were aggitating Everard and for a split second he saw a scenario of them all being killed, drained and blood splattered on the walls and grimy floor boards. They could do it together. But he was not in the mood for such a big clean-up. Instead of removing the onlooks, it seemed best to remove themselves instead. He walked up to Jory, slowly, but nothing yet changed in his demeanor, until he put a hand to Jory's shoulder, ignoring any fearful buckle or tremor. "You and I need a walk." he said flatly. "You look a little pale." he added, emphasising his incomprehension that he was now one of them.

mirroredxmusings

Jory blinked in shock as Everard’s cool hand landed on his shoulder, the words about looking pale still hanging in the air. He stared at Everard, struggling to process the reality before him, his old friend, the one he’d shared secret glances and laughter with in New York, was a vampire too. The revelation was so surreal that for a moment, Jory could only manage a shaky, incredulous laugh. “Yeah, I guess we’re both a little short on color these days,” he said, voice low and uncertain.

For just a moment, the hopelessness in Jory’s amber eyes faded, replaced by a spark of curiosity and the comfort of seeing someone familiar, even if nothing about this felt safe.

He looked back at the noisy bar, then at the looming darkness outside, uncertain of where he was supposed to go or what he should even say. “I… yeah, a walk.” His words stumbled out as he hesitated by the back door, not quite sure if he should lead or let Everard take the reins.

Jory stepped out into the thick, humid air and paused, glancing over his shoulder at Everard, searching his face for some hint of reassuranceor maybe just a sign that this wasn’t another dream gone bad. “I don’t really know where we’re going,” he admitted quietly, the confession hanging between them in the thick swamp air, “but I guess I’ll follow your lead.”

everarddelanden

A small huff left Everard's lips, as lost here as Jory seemed to be in sense of direction and sense of comprehension, but luckily not in emotions. Jory seemed a mess and not handling this way of life well which was a red flag from the get go. He would not last if he did not find his footing.

He just started walking, but keeping his eyes on Jory. It was an unexpected but rather pleasant surprise to see him again after saying goodbye in New York, which had been meant as a goodbye forever. The blood worked his eyes amazingly, yet he liked the visual with a bit of colour more over this pale modification. Took the edge off of him.

"Why are you alone?" was the first question he shot Jory's way. "This place is a tourist spot for any kind of blood thirsty fiend. You might just as well put a 'kill me now' sign on your back." It sounded judgemental, but the judgement was not towards Jory, but whomever left him to his own devices this early in the Blood.

mirroredxmusings

#mirroredxmusings #everarddelanden #Hunger in Honey Island Swamp: Circa 2019

daniel-james-molloy

Ground Zero | Closed Starter | @mirroredxmusings

He tightened his hold on Jory's hand and glanced at him. In the other hand he carried the small box he'd stowed the fortune cookie in that Jory had given him a few nights prior, kept safe and close.

"... You ready?"

mirroredxmusings

daniel-james-molloy

He paused and closed his eyes, silently willing his mind to empty of everything but a single thought.

Remember.

He opened his eyes and looked around the space again.

A different memory intersected the first.

He meant to look back at Jory again but his gaze snapped to the living room window opposite and out into the backyard down to the beach.

The beach had been so bright with all of the candlelight, the little lanterns.

"... That was the first thing I really remembered when I woke up," Daniel breathed, still staring out at the water's edge. "Your name, and standing with you out there."

mirroredxmusings

"That's what matters," he managed, voice soft but strained at the edges. "How you felt."

"We did dance here," Jory said quietly, the memory both precious and excruciating. "To old records. You wanted to make this place ours."

Then Jory followed Daniel's gaze toward the window, out to the beach beyond.

I promise to love you in this life and whatever comes after.

Daniel's voice, steady and sure. The vows he'd written himself, spoken with his hands holding Jory's, eyes never wavering.

I promise you'll never be alone.

And now Daniel stood beside him, remembering the feeling but not the words. Not the promises that had shattered eight years ago when he'd left.

Jory's jaw tightened. His free hand curled into a fist at his side, nails biting into his palm to keep himself anchored, to keep from breaking apart right here.

"I'm glad we came back," he whispered, and meant it. Even if it was killing him. Even if every corner of this house, every grain of sand on that beach, was a ghost of what they'd been.

He squeezed Daniel's hand gently, holding himself together through sheer will.

"I'm here. However long it takes."

The words were true. The composure behind them was barely holding

daniel-james-molloy

The worry only increased when Daniel felt the subtle tremor in Jory's hand, heard the strain in his voice, saw the flex of Jory's jaw and the tension that moved through him.

He looked around the living room again, took a moment to set the boxed fortune cookie on the sideboard and paused as he did, more memory slowly rising and surfacing.

"Old records," he echoed, and took a step toward the center of the room, then another. "Presley... The Ronettes... The Righteous Brothers..."

Daniel hesitated, then closed his eyes, head tilting as he focused on what came and called for him; the music soft but distinct in his mind.

He remembered so many times Jory had sung soft and low to him.

He remembered the way Jory had looked at him as they'd danced together in that room. How tenderly he'd held him, as if Daniel were something precious.

Like something he didn't want to lose.

Daniel turned back to look at Jory again, struggled to form words against the tightness that formed and lodged in his throat.

How swiftly he'd destroyed the delicate thing they'd made.

That he'd never meant to somehow felt worse.

That he'd let his fear and instability eclipse his love for this man crushed him from the inside out.

The senselessness of it was maddening.

"Even when it's hard," he breathed, reaffirming what he'd promised to Jory the same night they'd reunited again, even if the words were unsteady when they came out.

It took another moment before he spoke again, preparing himself for what he wanted to see next. "... Where are our rings again?"

mirroredxmusings

"I know where they are," Jory said softly. "I've kept them safe."

He squeezed Daniel's hand once before letting go, then crossed to the antique curio cabinet in the corner. His hand trembled as he reached for the brass handle. He steadied it and pulled.

Jory lifted the velvet box first, navy blue and worn soft at the corners. He opened it with a soft click.

Not one. Two.

Forever begins tonight, the engraving read on the inside of each band.

Forever had lasted exactly one year.

He took the photograph too and turned back toward Daniel. His hands were steadier now, though his eyes betrayed everything.

"Here," he whispered, setting the photo on the sideboard before holding out the open box. "Our rings."

His gaze lifted to meet Daniel's, raw and unguarded.

"I stopped waiting for someone who was never coming back."

The words hung between them, tender and devastating. He held the box out to Daniel like a question, like a confession, like the last fragile truth between them.

daniel-james-molloy

Daniel was silent as he looked down at the box held out between them, at the way the rings glittered and shone, as bright as their hopes had been that night years ago on the beach.

He remembered the look in Jory's eyes, that look the one that had come with the memory of his name.

It almost broke Daniel when he looked up and saw the pain where that hope had been in Jory's eyes now. He didn't need to remember the exact words he'd vowed to know the devastation left in his wake.

He felt that pain echoed through the tightness in his chest, felt it in the way the bond ached and strained.

Daniel reached out again and took hold of the box, his fingers resting against Jory's as he did, his own gaze open and holding nothing back.

Daniel paused, his eyes closing for a moment as he let the memory of waking and remembering rise, and with it, the surge of feeling.

He opened his eyes again and searched Jory's, his voice thick with feeling. "Are you sure you still want this with me, after everything? To keep choosing this, us, every night?"

mirroredxmusings

"Sure?" The word came out rough, almost broken. "Daniel, I wore this ring every single night for a year. I waited for you on that beach until the sun came up more times than I can count.

"I..."His voice cracked. He steadied himself, jaw tight.

He shook his head and a sigh deeply.

His voice dropped to barely a whisper, raw and undefended.

The words hung between them, tender and terrified and absolutely true.

"So yes. I'm sure. I've always been sure." His eyes searched Daniel's face. "Are you?"

daniel-james-molloy

Daniel resisted the deeply ingrained urge to turn his face into that touch, refused to break eye contact with Jory, not even for that tenderness he appreciated and yearned for deep to his very core.

"I'm sure." The words were soft but steady.

Certain.

He stroked his fingertips along the curve of Jory's jaw. "I want this. I choose this, I choose you."

"No matter what. I want you." He pressed his hand to Jory's chest and felt his own heartbeat quicken in response. "No one, nothing else compares. Not even close. So yes. I want this. I want us."

mirroredxmusings

I want you. No matter what.

Jory moved, pulled Daniel into his arms with desperate violence. Buried his face against Daniel's neck.

"I waited for you," he whispered, raw and broken. "Every night I waited."

His fingers curled into Daniel's shirt, holding on like Daniel might disappear. "I love you so much it terrifies me. Because losing you once nearly destroyed me, and I..."

The silence between them settled soft and sacred. Jory's breathing had steadied, his forehead still against Daniel's, when his gaze caught on something small and golden on the nearby table.

The fortune cookie box.

He pulled back slowly, hand trembling, not from fear, but from the overwhelming enormity of loving someone this much. Of needing them this desperately.

"Will you open it?" The words came out broken, barely a whisper. "Please?" He held it out to Daniel like he was offering his heart, raw and undefended, asking to be held gently.

A prayer wrapped in paper-thin sugar.

daniel-james-molloy

You unmade me.

The evidence of it laid bare within his own arms, in the broken admission Jory had spoken now.

I love you so much it terrifies me.

The bond surged and he was flooded with a sudden wave of emotion, caught in the riptide of it.

He knew this feeling, intimately; of fragile hope coupled with a bracing for impending despair.

Knew the crushing weight having that hope shattered.

How many times had he held his own heart out in a similar way and had it dashed into pieces again and again and again?

"Yes," he whispered, I'll open it."

He lifted the lid, then lifted out the cookie; feather-light, as fragile as the look in Jory's eyes.

Daniel set the box beside the one for the rings and looked up again, held Jory's gaze with his own, words spoken with hushed reverence.

"No matter what it says, though, I mean it. I want you and I want us. I choose you. Not anything or anyone else. You."

"Let's open it together."

He pressed their hands together and felt the cookie break between their palms.

mirroredxmusings

The cookie crumbled between their joined hands, sugar-sweet fragments falling away. The slip of paper revealed itself, and Jory watched Daniel's face as his eyes found the words.

Marry me...again

"I put them there," Jory said softly, his voice steady despite the blood tears tracking down his own face now. "I wrote them for you."

His fingers tightened around Daniel's, the broken cookie and its message pressed between their palms like a vow.

"You came back." The words emerged tender and fierce all at once. "After eight years, you came back for me. You could have stayed away. You could have let the distance win. But you didn't."

Jory brought their joined hands up between them, the slip of paper visible in the space where their fingers intertwined.

"Eight years ago, you chose me. You made me yours." His smile widened, absolute and unwavering. "You came back, and now I'm choosing you. I'm asking you."

He held Daniel's gaze, unflinching, unafraid.

Jory's thumb brushed across Daniel's knuckles, gentle and deliberate.

"You returned to me after all this time. Now let me return to you completely."

He leaned in, forehead touching Daniel's, their breath mingling in the space between.

"Marry me...again."

daniel-james-molloy

"- Yes."

"Yes... I'll marry you - every night if you wanted it, again, and again -"

"Yes."

"I love you endlessly."

mirroredxmusings

When they finally broke apart, Jory was trembling. Not from fear or uncertainty, but from the sheer weight of joy, of having Daniel here, saying yes, meaning it with every fiber of his being.

"Wait," Jory whispered against Daniel's mouth, and he reached blindly for the small velvet box on the table beside them. His fingers found it, steady now with purpose.

"You gave me one," Jory said, his voice thick with emotion. "Now I'm giving you one."

He took Daniel's left hand and gently uncurled his fingers. Jory slid the ring onto Daniel's fourth finger. It settled there perfectly, a mirror to the one on Jory's own hand.

Two rings. Two choices. Two halves of a circle finally complete.

Jory brought Daniel's hand to his lips, kissed the ring, kissed the skin beneath it.

"I love you too," he breathed. "Endlessly. Completely."

He pulled Daniel close, their foreheads pressed together once more, their connection thrumming between them like a second heartbeat.

Jory drew back just enough to meet Daniel's eyes, his hand still clasped with his.

Jory smiled, and it was radiant with hope and purpose.

"Tonight we remember. Tomorrow we begin again."

daniel-james-molloy

The fervent way Jory kissed him back was enough to leave Daniel dizzied and elated, and he held tight to his fledgling, quivering as well from the force of his own emotions when they broke apart.

Daniel only felt a sense of rightness in it, of completion.

The light caught the shimmer of the inlayed band and he had to swallow hard against the rush of emotion that again surged seeing it.

He'd never willingly remove the ring again.

"Help me remember?"

He was never certain and he so wanted to be.

"I want to remember, Jory. I don't want to be caught in up by the past and not knowing, for your sake and mine. I want our fresh start... but I need your help."

He lifted his free hand to stroke his lover's cheek again, kept his gaze locked with Jory's as he tried to follow that thread of something, the fragment of something he couldn't quiet catch hold of.

"... Was there something you asked me? Something you'd wanted... before, back then. Or is my mind just... spitting out nonsense again?"

mirroredxmusings

Jory's thumb continued its slow, soothing motion against Daniel's palm grounding him, keeping him tethered to the present moment even as his mind reached backward.

"Tell me what you're feeling," Jory urged, his amber eyes searching violet ones. "Don't force it. Just... what's there? What's the shape of it?"

daniel-james-molloy

The shape of it.

" -- Confusion. Fear." He looked up at Jory again, his hand closing lightly against his fledgling's and his expression softened for a moment as he focused on the way Jory's thumb stroked his palm.

"... After I turned you, but before I left... did we disagree, or fight about something?"

He looked up at Jory again. "Even if there are things that aren't happy, I want to remember them. I'd rather have the hard memories if there are ones I should know about, than nothing at all."

mirroredxmusings

#|| ground zero ||#|| mirroredxmusings ||#daniel james molloy

daniel-james-molloy

Ground Zero | Closed Starter | @mirroredxmusings

He tightened his hold on Jory's hand and glanced at him. In the other hand he carried the small box he'd stowed the fortune cookie in that Jory had given him a few nights prior, kept safe and close.

"... You ready?"

mirroredxmusings

daniel-james-molloy

He paused and closed his eyes, silently willing his mind to empty of everything but a single thought.

Remember.

He opened his eyes and looked around the space again.

A different memory intersected the first.

He meant to look back at Jory again but his gaze snapped to the living room window opposite and out into the backyard down to the beach.

The beach had been so bright with all of the candlelight, the little lanterns.

"... That was the first thing I really remembered when I woke up," Daniel breathed, still staring out at the water's edge. "Your name, and standing with you out there."

mirroredxmusings

"That's what matters," he managed, voice soft but strained at the edges. "How you felt."

"We did dance here," Jory said quietly, the memory both precious and excruciating. "To old records. You wanted to make this place ours."

Then Jory followed Daniel's gaze toward the window, out to the beach beyond.

I promise to love you in this life and whatever comes after.

Daniel's voice, steady and sure. The vows he'd written himself, spoken with his hands holding Jory's, eyes never wavering.

I promise you'll never be alone.

And now Daniel stood beside him, remembering the feeling but not the words. Not the promises that had shattered eight years ago when he'd left.

Jory's jaw tightened. His free hand curled into a fist at his side, nails biting into his palm to keep himself anchored, to keep from breaking apart right here.

"I'm glad we came back," he whispered, and meant it. Even if it was killing him. Even if every corner of this house, every grain of sand on that beach, was a ghost of what they'd been.

He squeezed Daniel's hand gently, holding himself together through sheer will.

"I'm here. However long it takes."

The words were true. The composure behind them was barely holding

daniel-james-molloy

The worry only increased when Daniel felt the subtle tremor in Jory's hand, heard the strain in his voice, saw the flex of Jory's jaw and the tension that moved through him.

He looked around the living room again, took a moment to set the boxed fortune cookie on the sideboard and paused as he did, more memory slowly rising and surfacing.

"Old records," he echoed, and took a step toward the center of the room, then another. "Presley... The Ronettes... The Righteous Brothers..."

Daniel hesitated, then closed his eyes, head tilting as he focused on what came and called for him; the music soft but distinct in his mind.

He remembered so many times Jory had sung soft and low to him.

He remembered the way Jory had looked at him as they'd danced together in that room. How tenderly he'd held him, as if Daniel were something precious.

Like something he didn't want to lose.

Daniel turned back to look at Jory again, struggled to form words against the tightness that formed and lodged in his throat.

How swiftly he'd destroyed the delicate thing they'd made.

That he'd never meant to somehow felt worse.

That he'd let his fear and instability eclipse his love for this man crushed him from the inside out.

The senselessness of it was maddening.

"Even when it's hard," he breathed, reaffirming what he'd promised to Jory the same night they'd reunited again, even if the words were unsteady when they came out.

It took another moment before he spoke again, preparing himself for what he wanted to see next. "... Where are our rings again?"

mirroredxmusings

"I know where they are," Jory said softly. "I've kept them safe."

He squeezed Daniel's hand once before letting go, then crossed to the antique curio cabinet in the corner. His hand trembled as he reached for the brass handle. He steadied it and pulled.

Jory lifted the velvet box first, navy blue and worn soft at the corners. He opened it with a soft click.

Not one. Two.

Forever begins tonight, the engraving read on the inside of each band.

Forever had lasted exactly one year.

He took the photograph too and turned back toward Daniel. His hands were steadier now, though his eyes betrayed everything.

"Here," he whispered, setting the photo on the sideboard before holding out the open box. "Our rings."

His gaze lifted to meet Daniel's, raw and unguarded.

"I stopped waiting for someone who was never coming back."

The words hung between them, tender and devastating. He held the box out to Daniel like a question, like a confession, like the last fragile truth between them.

daniel-james-molloy

Daniel was silent as he looked down at the box held out between them, at the way the rings glittered and shone, as bright as their hopes had been that night years ago on the beach.

He remembered the look in Jory's eyes, that look the one that had come with the memory of his name.

It almost broke Daniel when he looked up and saw the pain where that hope had been in Jory's eyes now. He didn't need to remember the exact words he'd vowed to know the devastation left in his wake.

He felt that pain echoed through the tightness in his chest, felt it in the way the bond ached and strained.

Daniel reached out again and took hold of the box, his fingers resting against Jory's as he did, his own gaze open and holding nothing back.

Daniel paused, his eyes closing for a moment as he let the memory of waking and remembering rise, and with it, the surge of feeling.

He opened his eyes again and searched Jory's, his voice thick with feeling. "Are you sure you still want this with me, after everything? To keep choosing this, us, every night?"

mirroredxmusings

"Sure?" The word came out rough, almost broken. "Daniel, I wore this ring every single night for a year. I waited for you on that beach until the sun came up more times than I can count.

"I..."His voice cracked. He steadied himself, jaw tight.

He shook his head and a sigh deeply.

His voice dropped to barely a whisper, raw and undefended.

The words hung between them, tender and terrified and absolutely true.

"So yes. I'm sure. I've always been sure." His eyes searched Daniel's face. "Are you?"

daniel-james-molloy

Daniel resisted the deeply ingrained urge to turn his face into that touch, refused to break eye contact with Jory, not even for that tenderness he appreciated and yearned for deep to his very core.

"I'm sure." The words were soft but steady.

Certain.

He stroked his fingertips along the curve of Jory's jaw. "I want this. I choose this, I choose you."

"No matter what. I want you." He pressed his hand to Jory's chest and felt his own heartbeat quicken in response. "No one, nothing else compares. Not even close. So yes. I want this. I want us."

mirroredxmusings

I want you. No matter what.

Jory moved, pulled Daniel into his arms with desperate violence. Buried his face against Daniel's neck.

"I waited for you," he whispered, raw and broken. "Every night I waited."

His fingers curled into Daniel's shirt, holding on like Daniel might disappear. "I love you so much it terrifies me. Because losing you once nearly destroyed me, and I..."

The silence between them settled soft and sacred. Jory's breathing had steadied, his forehead still against Daniel's, when his gaze caught on something small and golden on the nearby table.

The fortune cookie box.

He pulled back slowly, hand trembling, not from fear, but from the overwhelming enormity of loving someone this much. Of needing them this desperately.

"Will you open it?" The words came out broken, barely a whisper. "Please?" He held it out to Daniel like he was offering his heart, raw and undefended, asking to be held gently.

A prayer wrapped in paper-thin sugar.

daniel-james-molloy

You unmade me.

The evidence of it laid bare within his own arms, in the broken admission Jory had spoken now.

I love you so much it terrifies me.

The bond surged and he was flooded with a sudden wave of emotion, caught in the riptide of it.

He knew this feeling, intimately; of fragile hope coupled with a bracing for impending despair.

Knew the crushing weight having that hope shattered.

How many times had he held his own heart out in a similar way and had it dashed into pieces again and again and again?

"Yes," he whispered, I'll open it."

He lifted the lid, then lifted out the cookie; feather-light, as fragile as the look in Jory's eyes.

Daniel set the box beside the one for the rings and looked up again, held Jory's gaze with his own, words spoken with hushed reverence.

"No matter what it says, though, I mean it. I want you and I want us. I choose you. Not anything or anyone else. You."

"Let's open it together."

He pressed their hands together and felt the cookie break between their palms.

mirroredxmusings

The cookie crumbled between their joined hands, sugar-sweet fragments falling away. The slip of paper revealed itself, and Jory watched Daniel's face as his eyes found the words.

Marry me...again

"I put them there," Jory said softly, his voice steady despite the blood tears tracking down his own face now. "I wrote them for you."

His fingers tightened around Daniel's, the broken cookie and its message pressed between their palms like a vow.

"You came back." The words emerged tender and fierce all at once. "After eight years, you came back for me. You could have stayed away. You could have let the distance win. But you didn't."

Jory brought their joined hands up between them, the slip of paper visible in the space where their fingers intertwined.

"Eight years ago, you chose me. You made me yours." His smile widened, absolute and unwavering. "You came back, and now I'm choosing you. I'm asking you."

He held Daniel's gaze, unflinching, unafraid.

Jory's thumb brushed across Daniel's knuckles, gentle and deliberate.

"You returned to me after all this time. Now let me return to you completely."

He leaned in, forehead touching Daniel's, their breath mingling in the space between.

"Marry me...again."

daniel-james-molloy

"- Yes."

"Yes... I'll marry you - every night if you wanted it, again, and again -"

"Yes."

"I love you endlessly."

mirroredxmusings

When they finally broke apart, Jory was trembling. Not from fear or uncertainty, but from the sheer weight of joy, of having Daniel here, saying yes, meaning it with every fiber of his being.

"Wait," Jory whispered against Daniel's mouth, and he reached blindly for the small velvet box on the table beside them. His fingers found it, steady now with purpose.

"You gave me one," Jory said, his voice thick with emotion. "Now I'm giving you one."

He took Daniel's left hand and gently uncurled his fingers. Jory slid the ring onto Daniel's fourth finger. It settled there perfectly, a mirror to the one on Jory's own hand.

Two rings. Two choices. Two halves of a circle finally complete.

Jory brought Daniel's hand to his lips, kissed the ring, kissed the skin beneath it.

"I love you too," he breathed. "Endlessly. Completely."

He pulled Daniel close, their foreheads pressed together once more, their connection thrumming between them like a second heartbeat.

Jory drew back just enough to meet Daniel's eyes, his hand still clasped with his.

Jory smiled, and it was radiant with hope and purpose.

"Tonight we remember. Tomorrow we begin again."

daniel-james-molloy

The fervent way Jory kissed him back was enough to leave Daniel dizzied and elated, and he held tight to his fledgling, quivering as well from the force of his own emotions when they broke apart.

Daniel only felt a sense of rightness in it, of completion.

The light caught the shimmer of the inlayed band and he had to swallow hard against the rush of emotion that again surged seeing it.

He'd never willingly remove the ring again.

"Help me remember?"

He was never certain and he so wanted to be.

"I want to remember, Jory. I don't want to be caught in up by the past and not knowing, for your sake and mine. I want our fresh start... but I need your help."

He lifted his free hand to stroke his lover's cheek again, kept his gaze locked with Jory's as he tried to follow that thread of something, the fragment of something he couldn't quiet catch hold of.

"... Was there something you asked me? Something you'd wanted... before, back then. Or is my mind just... spitting out nonsense again?"

mirroredxmusings

Jory's thumb continued its slow, soothing motion against Daniel's palm grounding him, keeping him tethered to the present moment even as his mind reached backward.

"Tell me what you're feeling," Jory urged, his amber eyes searching violet ones. "Don't force it. Just... what's there? What's the shape of it?"

#|| ground zero ||#|| mirroredxmusings ||#daniel james molloy

mirroredxmusings

Jory's brow arched at Daniel's guinea pig comment, a wry smile curving his lips as he squeezed Daniel's hand. He leaned in, eyes glinting with playful mischief.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" he teased, letting the question hang before turning to Rose.

There was an easy confidence in his manner, a warmth that drew people in without effort.

He glanced at Daniel, biting his lip in quiet reflection. "Those early years weren't easy. I didn't reach out much. Just tried to survive."

He squeezed Daniel's hand again, feeling a gentle warmth and a rare sense of belonging. For the first time in a long while, he felt truly at ease, content in their company.

daniel-james-molloy

He'd had enough poking and prodding, and he didn't trust that if Fareed found out that he wouldn't be summoned back.

Or worse, made to go back one way or another.

When the topic returned to Rose's work at court, he finally spoke again, finally voicing the quiet but hopeful question.

"Rose, has there been any way the court or anyone else has come up with to help the new, weaker immortals? Or the ones that aren't adjusting as well, or that are... or aren't quite well in the mind?"

nodominion

daniel-james-molloy

He withdrew his own wallet, tossed down a few bills as well without counting them, then looked at Jory, smiling a little sadly.

"Well. That was that I suppose."

"You said you got flowers for you mother." A beat. "How is she?"

There was no anger, no fear when Daniel spoke again, only interest in the inquiry softly intoned so only Jory could hear him. ".... Did you end up telling her?"

mirroredxmusings

Two for zero.

And then she was just... gone.

You said you got flowers for your mother. How is she? Daniel had asked.

"Did you end up telling her?" Daniel's next question.

"No." The word came out sharper than he intended. He softened his voice, tried again. "No, Baby, I didn't tell her."

The jazz piano tinkled on, oblivious. Somewhere behind the bar, ice cracked in a shaker.

"I see her when I can," Jory said finally, quieter now. "But not like I want to. Never like I want to."

daniel-james-molloy

"... I'm sorry, that this was another way I didn't know how to guide you. Becoming what we are and... having family. People that you care about and that care about you that are still living."

Daniel pressed down the quiet ache that rose to match it; that sense that somehow the same distant observer status applied to interacting with the preternatural world just as much for him.

mirroredxmusings

He paused, and the jazz piano continued its meandering melody, filling the space between his words.

"You're here," Jory said, and his voice carried genuine warmth. "You're sitting with me in this bar at two in the morning. You're not pretending you have all the answers. You're just... present."

daniel-james-molloy

Daniel let himself sit with Jory's words for a moment before he spoke, and not for the first time let the weight of what had been said and the moment settle into him.

mirroredxmusings

daniel-james-molloy

"You are not a mistake."

mirroredxmusings

#|| long time no see thread ||#|| mirroredxmusings ||#daniel james molloy

talktomeafter12

When he melts to his knees every time I look at him.

mirroredxmusings

@daniel-james-molloy

everarddelanden

🗣️

"I don't know what this means. So much for keeping you just a fond memory."

mirroredxmusings

A pause. The mental equivalent of breath held before Jory's presence floods back, warm and familiar.

"Then stop trying."

#mirrorxmusings #everarddelanden

mirroredxmusings

Jory's brow arched at Daniel's guinea pig comment, a wry smile curving his lips as he squeezed Daniel's hand. He leaned in, eyes glinting with playful mischief.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" he teased, letting the question hang before turning to Rose.

There was an easy confidence in his manner, a warmth that drew people in without effort.

He glanced at Daniel, biting his lip in quiet reflection. "Those early years weren't easy. I didn't reach out much. Just tried to survive."

He squeezed Daniel's hand again, feeling a gentle warmth and a rare sense of belonging. For the first time in a long while, he felt truly at ease, content in their company.

daniel-james-molloy

He'd had enough poking and prodding, and he didn't trust that if Fareed found out that he wouldn't be summoned back.

Or worse, made to go back one way or another.

When the topic returned to Rose's work at court, he finally spoke again, finally voicing the quiet but hopeful question.

"Rose, has there been any way the court or anyone else has come up with to help the new, weaker immortals? Or the ones that aren't adjusting as well, or that are... or aren't quite well in the mind?"

nodominion

daniel-james-molloy

He withdrew his own wallet, tossed down a few bills as well without counting them, then looked at Jory, smiling a little sadly.

"Well. That was that I suppose."

"You said you got flowers for you mother." A beat. "How is she?"

There was no anger, no fear when Daniel spoke again, only interest in the inquiry softly intoned so only Jory could hear him. ".... Did you end up telling her?"

mirroredxmusings

Two for zero.

And then she was just... gone.

You said you got flowers for your mother. How is she? Daniel had asked.

"Did you end up telling her?" Daniel's next question.

"No." The word came out sharper than he intended. He softened his voice, tried again. "No, Baby, I didn't tell her."

The jazz piano tinkled on, oblivious. Somewhere behind the bar, ice cracked in a shaker.

"I see her when I can," Jory said finally, quieter now. "But not like I want to. Never like I want to."

daniel-james-molloy

"... I'm sorry, that this was another way I didn't know how to guide you. Becoming what we are and... having family. People that you care about and that care about you that are still living."

Daniel pressed down the quiet ache that rose to match it; that sense that somehow the same distant observer status applied to interacting with the preternatural world just as much for him.

mirroredxmusings

He paused, and the jazz piano continued its meandering melody, filling the space between his words.

"You're here," Jory said, and his voice carried genuine warmth. "You're sitting with me in this bar at two in the morning. You're not pretending you have all the answers. You're just... present."

daniel-james-molloy

Daniel let himself sit with Jory's words for a moment before he spoke, and not for the first time let the weight of what had been said and the moment settle into him.

mirroredxmusings

#|| long time no see thread ||#|| mirroredxmusings ||#daniel james molloy

mournfulroses

Anne Sexton, from a poem titled "The Fortress," featured in The Complete Poems of Anne Sexton

mirroredxmusings

@daniel-james-molloy

daniel-james-molloy

Ground Zero | Closed Starter | @mirroredxmusings

He tightened his hold on Jory's hand and glanced at him. In the other hand he carried the small box he'd stowed the fortune cookie in that Jory had given him a few nights prior, kept safe and close.

"... You ready?"

mirroredxmusings

daniel-james-molloy

He paused and closed his eyes, silently willing his mind to empty of everything but a single thought.

Remember.

He opened his eyes and looked around the space again.

A different memory intersected the first.

He meant to look back at Jory again but his gaze snapped to the living room window opposite and out into the backyard down to the beach.

The beach had been so bright with all of the candlelight, the little lanterns.

"... That was the first thing I really remembered when I woke up," Daniel breathed, still staring out at the water's edge. "Your name, and standing with you out there."

mirroredxmusings

"That's what matters," he managed, voice soft but strained at the edges. "How you felt."

"We did dance here," Jory said quietly, the memory both precious and excruciating. "To old records. You wanted to make this place ours."

Then Jory followed Daniel's gaze toward the window, out to the beach beyond.

I promise to love you in this life and whatever comes after.

Daniel's voice, steady and sure. The vows he'd written himself, spoken with his hands holding Jory's, eyes never wavering.

I promise you'll never be alone.

And now Daniel stood beside him, remembering the feeling but not the words. Not the promises that had shattered eight years ago when he'd left.

Jory's jaw tightened. His free hand curled into a fist at his side, nails biting into his palm to keep himself anchored, to keep from breaking apart right here.

"I'm glad we came back," he whispered, and meant it. Even if it was killing him. Even if every corner of this house, every grain of sand on that beach, was a ghost of what they'd been.

He squeezed Daniel's hand gently, holding himself together through sheer will.

"I'm here. However long it takes."

The words were true. The composure behind them was barely holding

daniel-james-molloy

The worry only increased when Daniel felt the subtle tremor in Jory's hand, heard the strain in his voice, saw the flex of Jory's jaw and the tension that moved through him.

He looked around the living room again, took a moment to set the boxed fortune cookie on the sideboard and paused as he did, more memory slowly rising and surfacing.

"Old records," he echoed, and took a step toward the center of the room, then another. "Presley... The Ronettes... The Righteous Brothers..."

Daniel hesitated, then closed his eyes, head tilting as he focused on what came and called for him; the music soft but distinct in his mind.

He remembered so many times Jory had sung soft and low to him.

He remembered the way Jory had looked at him as they'd danced together in that room. How tenderly he'd held him, as if Daniel were something precious.

Like something he didn't want to lose.

Daniel turned back to look at Jory again, struggled to form words against the tightness that formed and lodged in his throat.

How swiftly he'd destroyed the delicate thing they'd made.

That he'd never meant to somehow felt worse.

That he'd let his fear and instability eclipse his love for this man crushed him from the inside out.

The senselessness of it was maddening.

"Even when it's hard," he breathed, reaffirming what he'd promised to Jory the same night they'd reunited again, even if the words were unsteady when they came out.

It took another moment before he spoke again, preparing himself for what he wanted to see next. "... Where are our rings again?"

mirroredxmusings

"I know where they are," Jory said softly. "I've kept them safe."

He squeezed Daniel's hand once before letting go, then crossed to the antique curio cabinet in the corner. His hand trembled as he reached for the brass handle. He steadied it and pulled.

Jory lifted the velvet box first, navy blue and worn soft at the corners. He opened it with a soft click.

Not one. Two.

Forever begins tonight, the engraving read on the inside of each band.

Forever had lasted exactly one year.

He took the photograph too and turned back toward Daniel. His hands were steadier now, though his eyes betrayed everything.

"Here," he whispered, setting the photo on the sideboard before holding out the open box. "Our rings."

His gaze lifted to meet Daniel's, raw and unguarded.

"I stopped waiting for someone who was never coming back."

The words hung between them, tender and devastating. He held the box out to Daniel like a question, like a confession, like the last fragile truth between them.

daniel-james-molloy

Daniel was silent as he looked down at the box held out between them, at the way the rings glittered and shone, as bright as their hopes had been that night years ago on the beach.

He remembered the look in Jory's eyes, that look the one that had come with the memory of his name.

It almost broke Daniel when he looked up and saw the pain where that hope had been in Jory's eyes now. He didn't need to remember the exact words he'd vowed to know the devastation left in his wake.

He felt that pain echoed through the tightness in his chest, felt it in the way the bond ached and strained.

Daniel reached out again and took hold of the box, his fingers resting against Jory's as he did, his own gaze open and holding nothing back.

Daniel paused, his eyes closing for a moment as he let the memory of waking and remembering rise, and with it, the surge of feeling.

He opened his eyes again and searched Jory's, his voice thick with feeling. "Are you sure you still want this with me, after everything? To keep choosing this, us, every night?"

mirroredxmusings

"Sure?" The word came out rough, almost broken. "Daniel, I wore this ring every single night for a year. I waited for you on that beach until the sun came up more times than I can count.

"I..."His voice cracked. He steadied himself, jaw tight.

He shook his head and a sigh deeply.

His voice dropped to barely a whisper, raw and undefended.

The words hung between them, tender and terrified and absolutely true.

"So yes. I'm sure. I've always been sure." His eyes searched Daniel's face. "Are you?"

daniel-james-molloy

Daniel resisted the deeply ingrained urge to turn his face into that touch, refused to break eye contact with Jory, not even for that tenderness he appreciated and yearned for deep to his very core.

"I'm sure." The words were soft but steady.

Certain.

He stroked his fingertips along the curve of Jory's jaw. "I want this. I choose this, I choose you."

"No matter what. I want you." He pressed his hand to Jory's chest and felt his own heartbeat quicken in response. "No one, nothing else compares. Not even close. So yes. I want this. I want us."

mirroredxmusings

I want you. No matter what.

Jory moved, pulled Daniel into his arms with desperate violence. Buried his face against Daniel's neck.

"I waited for you," he whispered, raw and broken. "Every night I waited."

His fingers curled into Daniel's shirt, holding on like Daniel might disappear. "I love you so much it terrifies me. Because losing you once nearly destroyed me, and I..."

The silence between them settled soft and sacred. Jory's breathing had steadied, his forehead still against Daniel's, when his gaze caught on something small and golden on the nearby table.

The fortune cookie box.

He pulled back slowly, hand trembling, not from fear, but from the overwhelming enormity of loving someone this much. Of needing them this desperately.

"Will you open it?" The words came out broken, barely a whisper. "Please?" He held it out to Daniel like he was offering his heart, raw and undefended, asking to be held gently.

A prayer wrapped in paper-thin sugar.

daniel-james-molloy

You unmade me.

The evidence of it laid bare within his own arms, in the broken admission Jory had spoken now.

I love you so much it terrifies me.

The bond surged and he was flooded with a sudden wave of emotion, caught in the riptide of it.

He knew this feeling, intimately; of fragile hope coupled with a bracing for impending despair.

Knew the crushing weight having that hope shattered.

How many times had he held his own heart out in a similar way and had it dashed into pieces again and again and again?

"Yes," he whispered, I'll open it."

He lifted the lid, then lifted out the cookie; feather-light, as fragile as the look in Jory's eyes.

Daniel set the box beside the one for the rings and looked up again, held Jory's gaze with his own, words spoken with hushed reverence.

"No matter what it says, though, I mean it. I want you and I want us. I choose you. Not anything or anyone else. You."

"Let's open it together."

He pressed their hands together and felt the cookie break between their palms.

mirroredxmusings

The cookie crumbled between their joined hands, sugar-sweet fragments falling away. The slip of paper revealed itself, and Jory watched Daniel's face as his eyes found the words.

Marry me...again

"I put them there," Jory said softly, his voice steady despite the blood tears tracking down his own face now. "I wrote them for you."

His fingers tightened around Daniel's, the broken cookie and its message pressed between their palms like a vow.

"You came back." The words emerged tender and fierce all at once. "After eight years, you came back for me. You could have stayed away. You could have let the distance win. But you didn't."

Jory brought their joined hands up between them, the slip of paper visible in the space where their fingers intertwined.

"Eight years ago, you chose me. You made me yours." His smile widened, absolute and unwavering. "You came back, and now I'm choosing you. I'm asking you."

He held Daniel's gaze, unflinching, unafraid.

Jory's thumb brushed across Daniel's knuckles, gentle and deliberate.

"You returned to me after all this time. Now let me return to you completely."

He leaned in, forehead touching Daniel's, their breath mingling in the space between.

"Marry me...again."

daniel-james-molloy

"- Yes."

"Yes... I'll marry you - every night if you wanted it, again, and again -"

"Yes."

"I love you endlessly."

mirroredxmusings

When they finally broke apart, Jory was trembling. Not from fear or uncertainty, but from the sheer weight of joy, of having Daniel here, saying yes, meaning it with every fiber of his being.

"Wait," Jory whispered against Daniel's mouth, and he reached blindly for the small velvet box on the table beside them. His fingers found it, steady now with purpose.

"You gave me one," Jory said, his voice thick with emotion. "Now I'm giving you one."

He took Daniel's left hand and gently uncurled his fingers. Jory slid the ring onto Daniel's fourth finger. It settled there perfectly, a mirror to the one on Jory's own hand.

Two rings. Two choices. Two halves of a circle finally complete.

Jory brought Daniel's hand to his lips, kissed the ring, kissed the skin beneath it.

"I love you too," he breathed. "Endlessly. Completely."

He pulled Daniel close, their foreheads pressed together once more, their connection thrumming between them like a second heartbeat.

Jory drew back just enough to meet Daniel's eyes, his hand still clasped with his.

Jory smiled, and it was radiant with hope and purpose.

"Tonight we remember. Tomorrow we begin again."

#|| mirroredxmusings ||#|| ground zero ||#danieljamesmolloy

daniel-james-molloy

Ground Zero | Closed Starter | @mirroredxmusings

He tightened his hold on Jory's hand and glanced at him. In the other hand he carried the small box he'd stowed the fortune cookie in that Jory had given him a few nights prior, kept safe and close.

"... You ready?"

mirroredxmusings

daniel-james-molloy

He paused and closed his eyes, silently willing his mind to empty of everything but a single thought.

Remember.

He opened his eyes and looked around the space again.

A different memory intersected the first.

He meant to look back at Jory again but his gaze snapped to the living room window opposite and out into the backyard down to the beach.

The beach had been so bright with all of the candlelight, the little lanterns.

"... That was the first thing I really remembered when I woke up," Daniel breathed, still staring out at the water's edge. "Your name, and standing with you out there."

mirroredxmusings

"That's what matters," he managed, voice soft but strained at the edges. "How you felt."

"We did dance here," Jory said quietly, the memory both precious and excruciating. "To old records. You wanted to make this place ours."

Then Jory followed Daniel's gaze toward the window, out to the beach beyond.

I promise to love you in this life and whatever comes after.

Daniel's voice, steady and sure. The vows he'd written himself, spoken with his hands holding Jory's, eyes never wavering.

I promise you'll never be alone.

And now Daniel stood beside him, remembering the feeling but not the words. Not the promises that had shattered eight years ago when he'd left.

Jory's jaw tightened. His free hand curled into a fist at his side, nails biting into his palm to keep himself anchored, to keep from breaking apart right here.

"I'm glad we came back," he whispered, and meant it. Even if it was killing him. Even if every corner of this house, every grain of sand on that beach, was a ghost of what they'd been.

He squeezed Daniel's hand gently, holding himself together through sheer will.

"I'm here. However long it takes."

The words were true. The composure behind them was barely holding

daniel-james-molloy

The worry only increased when Daniel felt the subtle tremor in Jory's hand, heard the strain in his voice, saw the flex of Jory's jaw and the tension that moved through him.

He looked around the living room again, took a moment to set the boxed fortune cookie on the sideboard and paused as he did, more memory slowly rising and surfacing.

"Old records," he echoed, and took a step toward the center of the room, then another. "Presley... The Ronettes... The Righteous Brothers..."

Daniel hesitated, then closed his eyes, head tilting as he focused on what came and called for him; the music soft but distinct in his mind.

He remembered so many times Jory had sung soft and low to him.

He remembered the way Jory had looked at him as they'd danced together in that room. How tenderly he'd held him, as if Daniel were something precious.

Like something he didn't want to lose.

Daniel turned back to look at Jory again, struggled to form words against the tightness that formed and lodged in his throat.

How swiftly he'd destroyed the delicate thing they'd made.

That he'd never meant to somehow felt worse.

That he'd let his fear and instability eclipse his love for this man crushed him from the inside out.

The senselessness of it was maddening.

"Even when it's hard," he breathed, reaffirming what he'd promised to Jory the same night they'd reunited again, even if the words were unsteady when they came out.

It took another moment before he spoke again, preparing himself for what he wanted to see next. "... Where are our rings again?"

mirroredxmusings

"I know where they are," Jory said softly. "I've kept them safe."

He squeezed Daniel's hand once before letting go, then crossed to the antique curio cabinet in the corner. His hand trembled as he reached for the brass handle. He steadied it and pulled.

Jory lifted the velvet box first, navy blue and worn soft at the corners. He opened it with a soft click.

Not one. Two.

Forever begins tonight, the engraving read on the inside of each band.

Forever had lasted exactly one year.

He took the photograph too and turned back toward Daniel. His hands were steadier now, though his eyes betrayed everything.

"Here," he whispered, setting the photo on the sideboard before holding out the open box. "Our rings."

His gaze lifted to meet Daniel's, raw and unguarded.

"I stopped waiting for someone who was never coming back."

The words hung between them, tender and devastating. He held the box out to Daniel like a question, like a confession, like the last fragile truth between them.

daniel-james-molloy

Daniel was silent as he looked down at the box held out between them, at the way the rings glittered and shone, as bright as their hopes had been that night years ago on the beach.

He remembered the look in Jory's eyes, that look the one that had come with the memory of his name.

It almost broke Daniel when he looked up and saw the pain where that hope had been in Jory's eyes now. He didn't need to remember the exact words he'd vowed to know the devastation left in his wake.

He felt that pain echoed through the tightness in his chest, felt it in the way the bond ached and strained.

Daniel reached out again and took hold of the box, his fingers resting against Jory's as he did, his own gaze open and holding nothing back.

Daniel paused, his eyes closing for a moment as he let the memory of waking and remembering rise, and with it, the surge of feeling.

He opened his eyes again and searched Jory's, his voice thick with feeling. "Are you sure you still want this with me, after everything? To keep choosing this, us, every night?"

mirroredxmusings

"Sure?" The word came out rough, almost broken. "Daniel, I wore this ring every single night for a year. I waited for you on that beach until the sun came up more times than I can count.

"I..."His voice cracked. He steadied himself, jaw tight.

He shook his head and a sigh deeply.

His voice dropped to barely a whisper, raw and undefended.

The words hung between them, tender and terrified and absolutely true.

"So yes. I'm sure. I've always been sure." His eyes searched Daniel's face. "Are you?"

daniel-james-molloy

Daniel resisted the deeply ingrained urge to turn his face into that touch, refused to break eye contact with Jory, not even for that tenderness he appreciated and yearned for deep to his very core.

"I'm sure." The words were soft but steady.

Certain.

He stroked his fingertips along the curve of Jory's jaw. "I want this. I choose this, I choose you."

"No matter what. I want you." He pressed his hand to Jory's chest and felt his own heartbeat quicken in response. "No one, nothing else compares. Not even close. So yes. I want this. I want us."

mirroredxmusings

I want you. No matter what.

Jory moved, pulled Daniel into his arms with desperate violence. Buried his face against Daniel's neck.

"I waited for you," he whispered, raw and broken. "Every night I waited."

His fingers curled into Daniel's shirt, holding on like Daniel might disappear. "I love you so much it terrifies me. Because losing you once nearly destroyed me, and I..."

The silence between them settled soft and sacred. Jory's breathing had steadied, his forehead still against Daniel's, when his gaze caught on something small and golden on the nearby table.

The fortune cookie box.

He pulled back slowly, hand trembling, not from fear, but from the overwhelming enormity of loving someone this much. Of needing them this desperately.

"Will you open it?" The words came out broken, barely a whisper. "Please?" He held it out to Daniel like he was offering his heart, raw and undefended, asking to be held gently.

A prayer wrapped in paper-thin sugar.

daniel-james-molloy

You unmade me.

The evidence of it laid bare within his own arms, in the broken admission Jory had spoken now.

I love you so much it terrifies me.

The bond surged and he was flooded with a sudden wave of emotion, caught in the riptide of it.

He knew this feeling, intimately; of fragile hope coupled with a bracing for impending despair.

Knew the crushing weight having that hope shattered.

How many times had he held his own heart out in a similar way and had it dashed into pieces again and again and again?

"Yes," he whispered, I'll open it."

He lifted the lid, then lifted out the cookie; feather-light, as fragile as the look in Jory's eyes.

Daniel set the box beside the one for the rings and looked up again, held Jory's gaze with his own, words spoken with hushed reverence.

"No matter what it says, though, I mean it. I want you and I want us. I choose you. Not anything or anyone else. You."

"Let's open it together."

He pressed their hands together and felt the cookie break between their palms.

mirroredxmusings

The cookie crumbled between their joined hands, sugar-sweet fragments falling away. The slip of paper revealed itself, and Jory watched Daniel's face as his eyes found the words.

Marry me...again

"I put them there," Jory said softly, his voice steady despite the blood tears tracking down his own face now. "I wrote them for you."

His fingers tightened around Daniel's, the broken cookie and its message pressed between their palms like a vow.

"You came back." The words emerged tender and fierce all at once. "After eight years, you came back for me. You could have stayed away. You could have let the distance win. But you didn't."

Jory brought their joined hands up between them, the slip of paper visible in the space where their fingers intertwined.

"Eight years ago, you chose me. You made me yours." His smile widened, absolute and unwavering. "You came back, and now I'm choosing you. I'm asking you."

He held Daniel's gaze, unflinching, unafraid.

Jory's thumb brushed across Daniel's knuckles, gentle and deliberate.

"You returned to me after all this time. Now let me return to you completely."

He leaned in, forehead touching Daniel's, their breath mingling in the space between.

"Marry me...again."

#|| ground zero ||#|| mirroredxmusings ||#daniel james molloy

mirroredxmusings

Jory's brow arched at Daniel's guinea pig comment, a wry smile curving his lips as he squeezed Daniel's hand. He leaned in, eyes glinting with playful mischief.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" he teased, letting the question hang before turning to Rose.

There was an easy confidence in his manner, a warmth that drew people in without effort.

He glanced at Daniel, biting his lip in quiet reflection. "Those early years weren't easy. I didn't reach out much. Just tried to survive."

He squeezed Daniel's hand again, feeling a gentle warmth and a rare sense of belonging. For the first time in a long while, he felt truly at ease, content in their company.

daniel-james-molloy

He'd had enough poking and prodding, and he didn't trust that if Fareed found out that he wouldn't be summoned back.

Or worse, made to go back one way or another.

When the topic returned to Rose's work at court, he finally spoke again, finally voicing the quiet but hopeful question.

"Rose, has there been any way the court or anyone else has come up with to help the new, weaker immortals? Or the ones that aren't adjusting as well, or that are... or aren't quite well in the mind?"

nodominion

daniel-james-molloy

He withdrew his own wallet, tossed down a few bills as well without counting them, then looked at Jory, smiling a little sadly.

"Well. That was that I suppose."

"You said you got flowers for you mother." A beat. "How is she?"

There was no anger, no fear when Daniel spoke again, only interest in the inquiry softly intoned so only Jory could hear him. ".... Did you end up telling her?"

mirroredxmusings

Two for zero.

And then she was just... gone.

You said you got flowers for your mother. How is she? Daniel had asked.

"Did you end up telling her?" Daniel's next question.

"No." The word came out sharper than he intended. He softened his voice, tried again. "No, Baby, I didn't tell her."

The jazz piano tinkled on, oblivious. Somewhere behind the bar, ice cracked in a shaker.

"I see her when I can," Jory said finally, quieter now. "But not like I want to. Never like I want to."

daniel-james-molloy

"... I'm sorry, that this was another way I didn't know how to guide you. Becoming what we are and... having family. People that you care about and that care about you that are still living."

Daniel pressed down the quiet ache that rose to match it; that sense that somehow the same distant observer status applied to interacting with the preternatural world just as much for him.

mirroredxmusings

He paused, and the jazz piano continued its meandering melody, filling the space between his words.

"You're here," Jory said, and his voice carried genuine warmth. "You're sitting with me in this bar at two in the morning. You're not pretending you have all the answers. You're just... present."

#|| mirroredxmusings ||#danieljamesmolloy

mournfulroses

Anne Sexton, from a poem titled "Loving The Killer," featured in The Complete Poems of Anne Sexton

mirroredxmusings

@daniel-james-molloy

shisasan

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi, The Love Poems of Rumi, First published 1273

mirroredxmusings

@daniel-james-molloy

#rumi #poetry #words #quotes #danielxjory #daniel james molloy

daniel-james-molloy

Ground Zero | Closed Starter | @mirroredxmusings

He tightened his hold on Jory's hand and glanced at him. In the other hand he carried the small box he'd stowed the fortune cookie in that Jory had given him a few nights prior, kept safe and close.

"... You ready?"

mirroredxmusings

daniel-james-molloy

He paused and closed his eyes, silently willing his mind to empty of everything but a single thought.

Remember.

He opened his eyes and looked around the space again.

A different memory intersected the first.

He meant to look back at Jory again but his gaze snapped to the living room window opposite and out into the backyard down to the beach.

The beach had been so bright with all of the candlelight, the little lanterns.

"... That was the first thing I really remembered when I woke up," Daniel breathed, still staring out at the water's edge. "Your name, and standing with you out there."

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"That's what matters," he managed, voice soft but strained at the edges. "How you felt."

"We did dance here," Jory said quietly, the memory both precious and excruciating. "To old records. You wanted to make this place ours."

Then Jory followed Daniel's gaze toward the window, out to the beach beyond.

I promise to love you in this life and whatever comes after.

Daniel's voice, steady and sure. The vows he'd written himself, spoken with his hands holding Jory's, eyes never wavering.

I promise you'll never be alone.

And now Daniel stood beside him, remembering the feeling but not the words. Not the promises that had shattered eight years ago when he'd left.

Jory's jaw tightened. His free hand curled into a fist at his side, nails biting into his palm to keep himself anchored, to keep from breaking apart right here.

"I'm glad we came back," he whispered, and meant it. Even if it was killing him. Even if every corner of this house, every grain of sand on that beach, was a ghost of what they'd been.

He squeezed Daniel's hand gently, holding himself together through sheer will.

"I'm here. However long it takes."

The words were true. The composure behind them was barely holding

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The worry only increased when Daniel felt the subtle tremor in Jory's hand, heard the strain in his voice, saw the flex of Jory's jaw and the tension that moved through him.

He looked around the living room again, took a moment to set the boxed fortune cookie on the sideboard and paused as he did, more memory slowly rising and surfacing.

"Old records," he echoed, and took a step toward the center of the room, then another. "Presley... The Ronettes... The Righteous Brothers..."

Daniel hesitated, then closed his eyes, head tilting as he focused on what came and called for him; the music soft but distinct in his mind.

He remembered so many times Jory had sung soft and low to him.

He remembered the way Jory had looked at him as they'd danced together in that room. How tenderly he'd held him, as if Daniel were something precious.

Like something he didn't want to lose.

Daniel turned back to look at Jory again, struggled to form words against the tightness that formed and lodged in his throat.

How swiftly he'd destroyed the delicate thing they'd made.

That he'd never meant to somehow felt worse.

That he'd let his fear and instability eclipse his love for this man crushed him from the inside out.

The senselessness of it was maddening.

"Even when it's hard," he breathed, reaffirming what he'd promised to Jory the same night they'd reunited again, even if the words were unsteady when they came out.

It took another moment before he spoke again, preparing himself for what he wanted to see next. "... Where are our rings again?"

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"I know where they are," Jory said softly. "I've kept them safe."

He squeezed Daniel's hand once before letting go, then crossed to the antique curio cabinet in the corner. His hand trembled as he reached for the brass handle. He steadied it and pulled.

Jory lifted the velvet box first, navy blue and worn soft at the corners. He opened it with a soft click.

Not one. Two.

Forever begins tonight, the engraving read on the inside of each band.

Forever had lasted exactly one year.

He took the photograph too and turned back toward Daniel. His hands were steadier now, though his eyes betrayed everything.

"Here," he whispered, setting the photo on the sideboard before holding out the open box. "Our rings."

His gaze lifted to meet Daniel's, raw and unguarded.

"I stopped waiting for someone who was never coming back."

The words hung between them, tender and devastating. He held the box out to Daniel like a question, like a confession, like the last fragile truth between them.

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Daniel was silent as he looked down at the box held out between them, at the way the rings glittered and shone, as bright as their hopes had been that night years ago on the beach.

He remembered the look in Jory's eyes, that look the one that had come with the memory of his name.

It almost broke Daniel when he looked up and saw the pain where that hope had been in Jory's eyes now. He didn't need to remember the exact words he'd vowed to know the devastation left in his wake.

He felt that pain echoed through the tightness in his chest, felt it in the way the bond ached and strained.

Daniel reached out again and took hold of the box, his fingers resting against Jory's as he did, his own gaze open and holding nothing back.

Daniel paused, his eyes closing for a moment as he let the memory of waking and remembering rise, and with it, the surge of feeling.

He opened his eyes again and searched Jory's, his voice thick with feeling. "Are you sure you still want this with me, after everything? To keep choosing this, us, every night?"

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"Sure?" The word came out rough, almost broken. "Daniel, I wore this ring every single night for a year. I waited for you on that beach until the sun came up more times than I can count.

"I..."His voice cracked. He steadied himself, jaw tight.

He shook his head and a sigh deeply.

His voice dropped to barely a whisper, raw and undefended.

The words hung between them, tender and terrified and absolutely true.

"So yes. I'm sure. I've always been sure." His eyes searched Daniel's face. "Are you?"

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Daniel resisted the deeply ingrained urge to turn his face into that touch, refused to break eye contact with Jory, not even for that tenderness he appreciated and yearned for deep to his very core.

"I'm sure." The words were soft but steady.

Certain.

He stroked his fingertips along the curve of Jory's jaw. "I want this. I choose this, I choose you."

"No matter what. I want you." He pressed his hand to Jory's chest and felt his own heartbeat quicken in response. "No one, nothing else compares. Not even close. So yes. I want this. I want us."

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I want you. No matter what.

Jory moved, pulled Daniel into his arms with desperate violence. Buried his face against Daniel's neck.

"I waited for you," he whispered, raw and broken. "Every night I waited."

His fingers curled into Daniel's shirt, holding on like Daniel might disappear. "I love you so much it terrifies me. Because losing you once nearly destroyed me, and I..."

The silence between them settled soft and sacred. Jory's breathing had steadied, his forehead still against Daniel's, when his gaze caught on something small and golden on the nearby table.

The fortune cookie box.

He pulled back slowly, hand trembling, not from fear, but from the overwhelming enormity of loving someone this much. Of needing them this desperately.

"Will you open it?" The words came out broken, barely a whisper. "Please?" He held it out to Daniel like he was offering his heart, raw and undefended, asking to be held gently.

A prayer wrapped in paper-thin sugar.

#|| ground zero ||#|| mirroredxmusings ||#daniel james molloy

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