[ his sad little smile turns, well, a little less sad at that reassurance — he echoes the squeeze to their joined hands, and then falls silent; not because he wouldn't have things to say about the whole trying to fix things part, but because the way junpei speaks, eyes trained at something at the end of the street, is the way he sometimes starts some distance away from the point he wants to get to, circling it until he can finally push himself into facing whatever it is. and for that, he doesn't need charles' words; he needs his silence.
and that stays, even through the moment junpei takes to find the rest of his words; meanwhile, charles watches the red that stains his cheeks and oh, that's a sight that never gets old, never fails to make his heart flip. and then, a few seconds before junpei actually gets to the point, right around "i can't stop thinking about it," it flips again, and again, until it just... stops. in fact, charles could swear everything stops — the sounds from the town, the slight wind, anything and everything... because nothing really matters to him except junpei, and the way his arguably incredibly dorky (and yet so, so endearing) confession makes charles feel like he's somehow forgotten to let gravity affect him and is floating in the air.
he doesn't think he's ever felt as happy as he does, now.
though words are something that are beyond him, in the moment that junpei's question hangs between them, well, the way he looks at junpei belies it all: if he'd thought that the way charles looked at him before was openly affectionate, that holds no candle to this, here, his immediate answer not spoken aloud but no less obvious for it.
and then he's tugging on their hands, using his own to pull junpei close, his other hand cupping the back of his head gently as he leans down to press a kiss to his lips. and he means it to be a short, sweet thing, really, except he's wanted to do this for months and one kiss turns into two, three, until he's finally able to pull back just enough to touch their foreheads together, his hand moving from the back of junpei's head to the side of his face. ]
Yeah, [ he says then, smiling softly, ] Yeah, it's aces. [ with a quiet exhale, he straightens up so he can actually look at junpei properly, thumb brushing against his cheek, and the words — yeah, they're there, now. ]
You, Junpei Tenmyouji... I love you. [ in the end, it's a simple thing to say — like the words have just been waiting, all these weeks, for him to be brave enough to speak them aloud. ]
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and that stays, even through the moment junpei takes to find the rest of his words; meanwhile, charles watches the red that stains his cheeks and oh, that's a sight that never gets old, never fails to make his heart flip. and then, a few seconds before junpei actually gets to the point, right around "i can't stop thinking about it," it flips again, and again, until it just... stops. in fact, charles could swear everything stops — the sounds from the town, the slight wind, anything and everything... because nothing really matters to him except junpei, and the way his arguably incredibly dorky (and yet so, so endearing) confession makes charles feel like he's somehow forgotten to let gravity affect him and is floating in the air.
he doesn't think he's ever felt as happy as he does, now.
though words are something that are beyond him, in the moment that junpei's question hangs between them, well, the way he looks at junpei belies it all: if he'd thought that the way charles looked at him before was openly affectionate, that holds no candle to this, here, his immediate answer not spoken aloud but no less obvious for it.
and then he's tugging on their hands, using his own to pull junpei close, his other hand cupping the back of his head gently as he leans down to press a kiss to his lips. and he means it to be a short, sweet thing, really, except he's wanted to do this for months and one kiss turns into two, three, until he's finally able to pull back just enough to touch their foreheads together, his hand moving from the back of junpei's head to the side of his face. ]
Yeah, [ he says then, smiling softly, ] Yeah, it's aces. [ with a quiet exhale, he straightens up so he can actually look at junpei properly, thumb brushing against his cheek, and the words — yeah, they're there, now. ]
You, Junpei Tenmyouji... I love you. [ in the end, it's a simple thing to say — like the words have just been waiting, all these weeks, for him to be brave enough to speak them aloud. ]