A Confession
My drabble for @seasonsofcapri weekly prompt!
——
It had stealthily snuck up on him. It wasn’t like a cruel wind on the Varenne plains that hit like a slap in the face. No, it was gradual, as if it had been there all along and only suddenly had made its presence known. A dormant ember, dimmed and barely lit, that had somehow stoked itself back to life. Growing stronger until it had set everything ablaze and Laurent was entirely consumed with the feeling. Growing stronger until he had scarcely remembered the version of himself without it.
The mess of dark curls stirred next to him, sensing his unease. “Hmm...what is it?”
“I’m fine,” Laurent soothed. “Go back to sleep.” He slid his hand across the silken divide of the sheets and gently rested it in the subtle dip between the broad pecs that Laurent now knew so intimately. His fingers spread wide, he let his wrist roll with the rise and fall of each slumbering breath. Laurent laid his head back on his pillow and tried to let their twin heartbeats lull him.
“Are you ok?” The sleep-thickened question broke through in a muffled whisper.
“Yes, I promise I’m ok.” Laurent reaffirmed hushedly, as a calloused but warm hand crept up to find his own.
“I love you.” It was unplanned, this addendum, it had simply slipped out, barely audible but to himself. Laurent’s murmured confession triumphed in the open air, finally acknowledged.
He was more than ok.