oc content below. points a gun. look at my little guys. look at them. they are soooooooooooooooo queer representation coded. gay people win these
feat. vanya and eli fucking around in a river (not literally) and ed and reinor having a Moment (it’s mostly ed)
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Vanya strips off his shirt after Eli does, and Eli pauses for a moment.
"You're a girl?" he says.
"No," Vanya says, face wrinkling in disgust. "Girls are gross."
"Speak for yourself," Eli says, frowning as Vanya wades into the water after him. "I like girls."
"You don't have time for girls, Your Majesty."
"Says you." Eli splashes some water at him, who winces and flinches back from the cold. "This current's freezing."
"I don't know how you stand it," Vanya grumps, tucking his hands up into his armpits and around the bandages binding his chest. "Don't go too far."
"I can swim," Eli says reassuringly.
"That's not what I'm worried about."
-
"You...” Ed pauses, lips twisting as though he’s just bitten into a lemon. “...You are good at your job."
"Don't lie to me. I hate it when people do that."
"... alright, fine.” Ed squares his shoulders. Reinor, for all their melancholy, suddenly feels a little hesitant. “You're awful at your job. You're too nice, you're too gullible, you take people at their word. You want to best for everyone, which is, frankly, impossible. You want everyone to be happy.” Ed pauses there, and stops using his fingers to count their issues. Despite that, there’s a little buzz in Reinor’s chest, right where his sternum yields into the soft flesh of his stomach. Something humming, and sweet. Citrusy. “You... you see the good in the world. The good in people, even if... even if they've been cruel to you. You put up with things you shouldn't. You love them despite it."
"Yeah?" Reinor asks, sniffling a little. Their eyes are wet. How strange.
"Yeah," Ed says. The vulnerability wants to leave him, but it’s sort of hard to let go, so Reinor keeps them held tightly in his hand. "And... that's why you're terrible at your job."
"Oh come on," Reinor says, deflating a bit. "Really?"
In response, Ed grabs them by their collar and kisses them.
"I'm not in love with you," he says later, leaning up against the headboard with a notebook and pencil in hand. He's writing. Reinor doesn't ask what. Just settles further into cozy sheets.
"You don't have to be," they say.
"I love you," Ed says abruptly, pencil skidding across the paper. "But I'm not in love with you. Does that make sense?"
"No," Reinor says. They love Ed. That’s been enough until now. "Does it matter?"
Ed glances up from his notes. "Hm," he says, eyes fixed on Reinor's bare shoulder. "Maybe not." The words are questioning, postulative. As though he's never considered it before. Reinor just smiles into a pillow, and listens to the sound of charcoal on paper.
