Rock took the box in both hands, hesitating at first, wondering how he should proceed in the moment. Should he just– take it home, and look at it later, or…?
No. No, he wanted to open it now. She brought it for him to open here. Rock took a swallow of nervous anticipation, resting the box in one arm and grasping the bottom of the lid. Come to think of it, didn’t this box look like the kind of one that came from a clothing store…?
What lay nestled inside, folded with care, was a complete ensemble. A steely grey coat and pants, a form-fitting black undershirt, thick-soled shoes… He understood the style. He understood it right away; this was… This was a carefully-chosen, direct counterpart for Roll’s own clothes. But what truly got him was what lay on top.
A hat. A squared-off cap, tall to accommodate for his hair– with a metal plate on the front.
This wasn’t something she just picked up. No, this was custom-ordered.
Made to look like the hat she’d been left by her father, right there on her head.
That most closely-held item of hers, she wanted to share with him.
“…I-I…” Huh. His cheek was wet, for some reason. Raising a hand, he wiped it away. “I’m… I’m glad for this. For this just– being what it is. Thanks, Roll.”
He calmly set the hat back down on top, carefully placed the lid back on, and turned away, walking a few paces towards their new property.
“I’ve, uh… I’ve been working towards this for a while. It’s been hard to; I could never seem to get any of my gear back to get started.” He threw his arms out to either side. “Then, you showed up,and suddenly things started coming together for me!”
Rock let his arms drop, head tilted back towards the sky, letting silence pervade for a good minute or so.
“…Things never really– changed up there, you know?”
He raised an arm to rub at the other uncomfortably, turning back towards Roll now, eyes cast down. The usual light in his eyes was lacking, for the moment.
“I was just doing my best to get by, on Elysium. Was stuck subsiding on life support all the time. No food, no sunlight, just– nothing.” He bared that embarrassed grin same as usual, chuckling quietly. “Now suddenly, life’s moving for me again. I guess this…goes to show just how much I need you, huh?”
Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he strides towards her abruptly, closing the distance between them. Reaching forward, he seeks out her hands, taking them in his own.
“Listen, Roll – I know that…it bothered you. Seeing me– different, then how you helped make me.”
He remembered perfectly clear the complicated look on her face, seeing the shifts in his armor, the replaced pack, the adjustments to his Buster; all work that Yuna and Sera had done on him to help last on Elysium, bringing him closer to his original format of Trigger. She did her best to disguise it, but he knew her all too well to be as fooled as he’d pretended to be.
The look on her face, that made it seem like someone had stolen that from her.
“That’s why I…tried to bring a bit of home to this; I just… I just needed you to know that, even after all that’s happened, I never forgot what matters most to me.” He squeezes her hand tightly. “I needed you to know I’m still your R–”
He cuts himself off almost-instantly, eyes widening and face beginning to turn red as he catches how far he was going. He jerks his head to the side, giving a few forced coughs.
“I, uh…” His voice fades to murmurs, unable to look her in the eye. “N-Never mind.”
Both surprises evoked a lot of emotion in them. What remained unspoken since Roll’s arrival poured in an instant and to her, it meant more than the entire universe. It pained her knowing the truth behind his stay in Elysium. It wasn’t as pleasant but that was likely obvious, she just didn’t want to think the worst out of it.
That as long as they could meet eventually, distance didn’t matter because others cared for him.
However, he cut himself and embarrassment crept on his face. Roll wasn’t about to have it. Not now or ever. Didn’t he understand how important this was? That at any moment, all could be lost.
“No, you just can’t start something and take it back! Quit being so unfair! I’ve waited long enough, haven’t I?! I want to hear everything you have to say! You always kept enduring everything by yourself, I felt so guilty not being able to do anything... I just... you were so far away... and now that you’re here, will you still keep your distance?” He was so strong but Roll always understood how overwhelming it could be, having the weight of the world on your shoulders. It was no daily task, not one that he should have been burdened with.
She was glad that things have improved for him, that her presence influenced positively and offered change. It was mutual in that sense, she was capable of going on because of him.
“Of course I was jealous that you were so different when I saw you but as long as you were fine I could manage and I’m so grateful! Honestly, I owe your other friends a lot for keeping you safe and supporting you while I couldn’t!” Placing her own achievements as a mechanic aside, it was nothing that troubled her as deeply and it did not overshadow her happiness. Meeting him again was all that concerned her these last years. Sometimes guilt plagued her, it was painful to realise how much she had missed from his life.
Bits and pieces they would never get back. A lifetime spent together and it was taken from them, so meaningless when seeing the bigger picture. Roll took back his hands into hers, squeezing them to provide reassurance.
“Rock, no matter what happens I’ll always be here for you! I would go to the moon or anywhere else to be at your side! Or go against everything if I gotta, ‘coz I mean it when I say that I love you!”
Roll wasn’t processing what was going around and even more what her mouth was spouting, although spoken with the most sincerity in her heart -- it was not properly planned, merely said in the heat of the moment. Her feelings were flowing so freely that her words matched the raw intensity of her heart.
So much for demanding he saw her eye to eye.
“Oh, it’s... really embarrassing when you say it aloud, huh? He...hehe...”