for plaguedrat - continued [possibly nsfw]

[silenttrainbaby]

[from here]

They are both whole, they are both young, and alive. And a tear may fall-just one- for Gilliam who isn't here, Grey can run his hands down Rat's front, the body much like his own.

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[plaguedrat]

Rat traces the letters with his fingertip, wondering where himself. They can go back to the grove (Their grove) or somewhere else entirely. It's all open to them.

"Do you need anything else?" More food, clothes. Whatever they can make theirs.

[silenttrainbaby]

No; he shakes his head. He has a full belly and his clothes are his clothes; he doesn't wish for anything else, aside from Rat.

[plaguedrat]

"Back?" To the grove and to...whatever they want of themselves.

[silenttrainbaby]

All right. Being as it's the work day, that is probably best, too. In the park, there are vendors with carts: ice cream, popcorn again, pretzels, a dizzying array of smells which make Grey wriggle his nose even if he just ate.

He moves quickly and smoothly past those, though, dodging amongst the mothers and their babies, the boys playing catch. He finds, now, that he doesn't like too many people about.

[plaguedrat]

Rat follows, equally smooth and fast, not trusting other people on instinct and waiting for them to give him proof otherwise and sometimes not believing it, even then.

Grey has proven himself a fast exception.

[silenttrainbaby]

Past the jogging track and over the brush to their spot. Grey throws himself down into the grass again with a smile.

[plaguedrat]

Rat laughs, grinning at the way that Grey changes and relaxes. He sheds his own tension and lets himself drop to the ground, sprawling next to Grey with an easy grin.

[silenttrainbaby]

There are huge puffy clouds in the sky. Shrugging out of his jacket, Grey rolls it as a pillow for them to look at and he points to one. Big, lumpy - what does it look like?

[plaguedrat]

Rat laughs again, tucking himself under Grey's arm to look up at the sky.

"A rabbit," he decides, outlining long ears with his index finger.

[silenttrainbaby]

Grey realizes ruefully that he is going to be terrible at this game. He's never seen a rabbit, but still, he points to another cloud. And that?

[plaguedrat]

"A heart," Rat says. It's silly and romantic but it's the first in along time that he's allowed himself to feel either.

[silenttrainbaby]

There? Grey looks at it more intently then looks at Rat. He brings their joined hands over his heart. A heart.

[plaguedrat]

Rat nods, distracted from their game to lay his head on Grey's shoulder, glancing down at the joined hands over his heart.

"A heart."

[silenttrainbaby]

For a long moment, Grey is still, his eyes closed. But after that, he taps Rat's cheek to get his attention, then he taps the word that their hands partially obscure.

Gilliam.

How to explain?

He takes Rat's hand, spelling letters onto the palm.

T-E-A-C-H-E-R. L-O-V-E-R. Then his arm, die Dead. His heart, before Rat, before Grey's resurrection.

[plaguedrat]

In the moment they'd shared, Rat had relaxed, closed his eyes, and almost drowsed. Grey's touch and the melancholy on his face bring him right back to reality and he traces those letters with his eyes.

"No wonder it's tattooed there."

He looks at him quietly, wondering if he should tell Grey too. About Shion.

[silenttrainbaby]

He doesn't have to. It just warrants explaining. Gilliam hadn't wanted the words tattooed there, but Grey had insisted.

He kisses Rat's knuckles.

[plaguedrat]

Gently again, Rat glides his knuckles over Grey's mouth. It amazes him how much Grey is capable of saying without needing a single word.

With his other hand, he traces those letters.

"Shion...saved my life."

He runs fingers up to his shoulders, to the oldest of his four bullet scars.

[silenttrainbaby]

Lifting himself to an elbow, Grey traces over those scars. He points to another word, How?

How did the wounds come to be? How did Shion save his life?

[plaguedrat]

"I was shot. They said I was a criminal and that I should be turned in..." Running in the rain, bleeding, convinced he would die.

"And he let me in. Cut the bullet out and gave me food without asking anything in return..."

[silenttrainbaby]

Shion sounds like Gilliam, who cut off limbs to feed others. Grey touches Rat's heart, then. Does that mean that Rat stayed? Stayed with Shion?

[plaguedrat]

"That city took everything away from him, for daring to help someone else..." Yet more reasons to hate No. 6, with all its cruelty.

"A year ago...they were going to execute him for being a malcontent." And he'd let his whole world go sideways for that boy.

"And then I came here."

[silenttrainbaby]

They were going to ...? Grey's brows are knit in concern. So, Rat doesn't know what happened to him?!

[plaguedrat]

"I found him. He's safe...but now I'm here."

He pauses for a second before touching Grey's hand again. Now he's here. With him.

[silenttrainbaby]

Would he leave if he could, to be with Shion?

Not that Grey would blame him, no. At least he was alive, yes?

He laces his fingers with Rat's. No judgment, simply comfort.

[plaguedrat]

No. He left Shion before, because he couldn't be part of the world that rebuilt No. 6.

And he won't leave Grey behind either.