The Key to Loving Someone (is to know how to let them go)
(Written for @flashfictionfridayofficial‘s prompt: FFF60: Soft Bones. A little bit from Superheroverse featuring Siren’s backstory and one (1) adorable badass vigilante assassin who I honestly love writing. Enjoy!)
Their first kiss is part joke part experiment. Their noses bump and their foreheads knock until they figure out how to angle their faces just right. They giggle as their lips separate, constantly readjusting and trying to see how they can press their (dry, chapped) lips together to resemble a kiss.
Their kisses get more dramatic. Nyx pulls Siren’s hand and bows exaggeratedly to flip their hand over and drop a kiss to the smooth underside of their wrist. Siren smirks and trips her, sliding Nyx forward to raise a kiss to her cheek when they’re both on their way to dinner.
Once, when they spar and Nyx has won, she pins Siren to the ground with a palm to their shoulder and grins as she kissed their sweat-soaked forehead. Siren rolls their eyes and spins their body to push her off and Nyx goes, still laughing.
Nothing much changes when they start dating. Nyx flutters a litany of kisses down the line of their neck and wraps her arms around their body when they curl up together on the sofa. Siren learns the lines of her spine and the edges of her ribs where they kiss an artwork onto their girlfriend’s body. Nyx runs cold fingers down the lines of their cheeks and tuck their head under her chin.
(“Your bones are so soft.” Nyx says once, rolling over to run her fingers over Siren’s scalp. The blankets tangle around her legs.
Siren laughs and asks, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Nyx pulls her right hand out of Siren’s hair to caress their arm. She kisses their wrist where there’s a slight line where their body armour and gloves overlap on normal days. “It means that you’re my best friend, whatever else happens. Don’t ever let the world harden you.”)
When Nyx gets injured while acting in her professional capacity, Siren tends to her injuries. Nocte does the actual medical part, of course, but Siren does the ‘carrying their very grumpy girlfriend around while her legs heal’ bits. And the ‘kiss her injuries better’ bits. And the ‘laugh at her when she complains that the broken bone part isn’t even a place she wanted strengthened now her bones are going to have unequal density’ bits.
They mutually agree to stop dating because they don’t need to be dating in order to get comfort and love from each other. They know each other’s minds and movements; they don’t need to be dating in order to learn other parts of each other.
When Siren leaves for the first time, Nyx pulls them into a tight hug and presses a firm kiss to the shell of their ear. “You will always be welcome here, no matter what.”
Siren holds onto their best friend tightly, and they both pretend that they’re not crying. If Nocte notices that her younger sister’s smile is a bit more forced and that her strikes are a little more violent in the weeks that happen after Siren’s departure, she quietly cleans the blood from Nyx’s nails and from the floor and does not say anything.
Nyx does not kiss Siren while they’re recovering in the month after Nyx dragged her body from the shallows. She grips Siren a little too tight and she doesn’t leave their side for the entire time they can, yes. She murmurs how she knew that trying to be a superhero was a bad idea and really, Siren is always welcome back, yes. She talks more than ever and pulls Siren close to her whenever she has any excuse, yes. They don’t need to kiss.
“You knew this was a possibility.” Siren says when they can finally speak again, voice still hoarse from the various attempts to strangle and choke them.
Nyx sniffs. “Superheroes.”
Siren’s laugh echoes through the marrow of Nyx’s bones. “They have their uses. You know like not needing to hide all the time.”
Nyx snorts. “I’ve seen the excuses for armour. Spare me. Being a demon is far better.”
She taps her fingernails against the head of the bed, holding on to Siren for as long as she can.
When Siren leaves for the second time, they lean in and tilt their head to press their lips to Nyx’s. This kiss is gentle and quiet, perfect for two people who’s lives have never been gentle or quiet. Siren rests their hands on Nyx’s waist, pulling her close. Nyx keeps her eyes open, trying to memorise every last detail, every silvery edge of every scar, every last twitch of their eyelashes before she has to let go again.
When they separate, Siren’s fingers twined loosely at Nyx’s back, they watch each other. Not as they would normally watch other people, not taking in their weaknesses and strengths and evaluating how to best kill them (Nyx) or how to get the information they seek (Siren). No, they watch each other with the fondness of two people who already know each other like an extension of their selves.
Nyx gently pulls Siren to her and abruptly hugs them tightly. “Stay in contact this time, okay? I… dislike only finding out about you when you’re in severe danger or badly hurt.”
Siren smiles into her shoulder, closing their eyes. “I promise.”
