[network] Event: Long & Lost [NIGHT 217]

[snowblindmods]

it's been so long between the words we spoke
will you be there up on the shore, I hope

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[heroproceeding]

Good.

[ The word rolls out, barely a rumbled whisper and he's back in Jim's space and squeezing him maybe a little too tightly. Keeps holding on maybe a little too long like that before that hold loosens some. Before he's back to something more comfortable as he slides his hand from the back of his head to his shoulderblades instead, giving him a soft pat there. ]

I know- I know you won't. Hell- I'm proud of you, you know?

[rattlingthestars]

[ Jim had been - he wasn't okay, not by any stretch of the imagination, but he was holding it together. He wasn't a kid, as he'd shown over and over, and he could handle anything this place threw at them as well as anybody else.

But that.

I'm proud of you.

Zack might as well have punched him. It's all he wanted. more than Zack's trust, more than his love. It's all he ever wants, and Jim didn't even know Zack thought it until now. ]

-Zack.

[ He stops to catch his breath. ]

When we're out of here - when everything's okay -

[ When I've earned it. ]

- Tell me that again.

[heroproceeding]

When we leave this place-

[ No matter if he doesn't end up going with them. No matter if that's the last time he ever sees them again. If he gets to say that, if those are his last words to Jim- they're the best words he could give him. The ones that matter a lot. He can hear it in the way his voice sounds like it's about to crack and the way tension feeds into his shoulders again.

If only he, himself, could...

Zack clears his own throat. ] When we leave this place, I'll tell you that again. I promise.

[ When.. Not if. ]