Brother. Chuuya had called him brother. In the language that Verlaine is most intimately familiar with, he had asked him for help...
Verlaine hadn't even known that Chuuya could speak french. Had he always been able to, or had he learned in the past few years? It forces him to reflect- about how absent he's been from the boy's life for so long. That sour feeling stings like poison, and he's suddenly overcome with the unfamiliar weight of shame.
How could he ever have abandoned this child? He'd convinced himself that because Chuuya was different, he'd be fine. He hadn't understood how Chuuya had had that hope inside him - it had been such an alien concept to Verlaine that he'd assumed that Chuuya could never break like he had. Because they weren't the same... yes, he'd thought that they were fundamentally different.
Maybe they still are, on some level. Back then, Verlaine was certainly wrong to think he'd understood Chuuya. But maybe... they're more alike than he had thought.
He knows that right now, he's not being rational. Chuuya's words, his tears, his utter terror- all of them together were more than enough to shake Verlaine, and he might end up feeling differently when he calms down. But still... with kindness in his eyes, the assassin holds Chuuya close to him. He stays there for a moment, taking in the warmth of his body; the fact that he's alive... and then, with care not to wake him, he picks him up, carrying him in the gentlest way he can.
He hadn't planned to ever leave and go outside; hadn't thought about it in a very long time. But now, leaving feels natural. There's nothing strange about it, not as he carries Chuuya through the building and outside, and not as he takes him to the car that's been waiting for him... for once, Verlaine is glad that Mori went through the trouble of preparing so much for the day he would leave, despite Verlaine's insistence that the day would never come. It's a cold gratitude, because the anger he feels at that man still burns within him, but even so. It's time to bring his little brother home.
@chaosbled ( continued from here! )
