Heart-break. Mulciber thought he’d experienced his fair share; thought he’d known what it felt like to feel his heart crack in half. The words out of Orion’s mouth were the truth, as unfortunate as they were. Maybe Douglas was just not meant to be happy. Maybe he was just not meant to have happiness. Maybe he was meant for destruction. He was taught that it was part of him, hadn’t want to believe it. But, maybe it was. Maybe he was just taught to destroy, and so that’s what he did. Mulciber was a hurricane and Orion had been the eye. He should’ve known it wouldn’t last.
Maybe Mulciber should let him go right now. It would be easier for Orion that way. He could go on and live his life, a better life, probably, then what Mulciber would ever give him. Besides, all of his ideas for their life were just a fantasy. Orion was right. He was marrying someone else. Someone whom he didn’t love, at least not in the way that he loved Orion. He didn’t look at Alessia and see butterflies. He didn’t look at Alessia and see love. He didn’t look at Alessia and see bloody salvation.
He didn’t look at Alessia and see home.
“I wish it could,” he said, softly, looking down at his hands, now empty. They felt so cold without Orion’s hand. “Trust me, sometimes I feel like I could move oceans for you with the way I feel.” The words were so soft that Mulciber wasn’t exactly sure he’d said them out loud. Maybe he should’ve said it before. Orion truly deserved to have someone who told him how he felt. To be loved. God, did Mulciber even know what that meant? To be loved. He’d only ever been loved by Orion, and maybe he was just mimicking that feeling. Was that a bad thing, though? To be kinder? To be softer? For the first time in his life, not itch to torture something with his wand? No, for once Mulciber didn’t want power. He just wanted Orion.
A shake of his head and Mulciber was there, gently reaching out for him and taking his face in his hands. After searching Orion’s eyes (Godric he loved those eyes), he found himself smiling ever so slightly. “I’m not asking you that,” he said, softly. “Because I don’t think of it that way. I don’t see myself having a family with Alessia a-and… I don’t know. Betraying you. It’s a… job. I know, I know. I’m not the one who… I’m not the one who’s on the receiving end. And I can’t change how you feel. I wouldn’t ask you to feel any other way.” He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. “I can see it. I’m sorry. I wish… I wish there was another way.”
He climbed into Orion’s lap, slowly, careful not to hurt him as he knees fell on either side of his torso. “I love you,” he said, softly. “Fucking hell. I love you. And I’ll always be yours.” Mulciber didn’t know what else to say at this point, so he figured he would do what he had always been better at. Kissing was his way of making up for what had happened; for making Orion see that he would have changed the world for them if he could.
Orion had spent his whole life feeling as if he was chasing after love and never quite getting enough. Always feeling as if the way others loved him was just slightly less that how he loved them; always feeling like he was falling short just a little. He had never quite had enough but he knew that the way Doug loved him was enough to fill up the empty spaces in his chest. It was enough to drown out every previous heartbreak. So, he believed him when he said he felt like he could move oceans with the way he felt because Orion felt the same way. “I know,” He had dreamed of this for so long, how was he supposed to cope when it was ripped away just as soon. There was a weight in his chest, something that was crushing his soul. He smiled, “Me too.”
Orion understood what he meant when he said it was business. Marriage had always been that within families like theirs but it had always been something more for Orion. Even if it was nothing more than an understanding, he would always see infidelity as a betrayal. “I just can’t watch you go home to someone else.” Not when he had always dreamt of them coming home to each other. He wouldn’t let their love be tainted like this. And he knew Doug understood, as much as he ever would. “I’m sorry as well,” he added quietly, sounding so resigned and so sad because there really was no other way.
He let him climb in his lap, immediately pulling him closer. There was no distance between them but he still always, always wanted to be closer to him. His lips curved in a smile at the words, “You know I do love hearing that,” he said softly, pretending for a moment that there were no strings attached to those words. That there wasn’t an end in sight. It was just him and the man he loved telling him the words he had longed for. “I love you,” he said softly as he kissed him back, one of his hands tangling in his hair and the other one resting on his hip, tugging him closer. They had often chosen this instead of talking as a way to resolve their differences but there was something desperate in the way Orion kissed him now, as if he was terrified of him slipping away.