IC contact; phone

[flowerofmtsilver]

You have reached the voice mailbox of ...Vinnie. Please leave a message after the tone.

...

BEEP!

[Or drop him a text, if you'd like to brave his txtspeak]

Comments

[rivalsolarbeam]

The younger Saur closed his eyes at the gentle touches, reaching up to brush his fingers over the back of Vinnie's hand. Whether it was to keep the touch there or to stop it, he wasn't really sure. There was no doubt that he wanted the warmth that came with it, but the desire made the guilt that much heavier.

I'll make it work.

Bulba kept his eyes closed, knowing the way Vinnie was looking at him was probably as tender as his voice. Don't, he had wanted to say, but his throat had felt too tight to speak. He couldn't bear the thought of the older Saur trying to do anything more for him after everything he'd already had to let go of. He shouldn't have had to do anything.

I wanna make you happy, too. The things that did to his heart. How dare he.

Bulba drew Vinnie's hand down, pressing a light kiss on his fingers. "You do already," he murmured, lifting his eyes to see him again. He let go of his hand to reach out and caress the other Venusaur's cheek. "You make me so happy. It's kind of unfair."

Definitely unfair. Extremely unfair.

[flowerofmtsilver]

Vinnie let himself lean into Bulba's touch, taking solace in it as much as he could. He could only assume Bulba meant that it was unfair that not everyone was as happy as he was, which... well, that was a good thing, right? It meant Venusaur was doing something right. The idea that any of this was unfair to Vinnie simply hadn't crossed his mind.

"I'm al'right with that," he smiled, letting the feeling of Bulba's kiss linger on his fingers like a warm afterglow.

Despite the dimensional bubbles and dips into his memory, and no matter what would happen, Vinnie wanted him to know, "No matter what you've seen... I don't regret this. I'd never regret you. Okay?"

[rivalsolarbeam]

He wanted nothing more than to believe that, wholly and truly. He wanted to believe that it was enough to not be a regret. It wouldn't have been a mistake then, right?

Bulba knit his brows together slightly uneasily as he looked at Vinnie, his lower lip briefly caught in his teeth.

"... Are you sure?"

[flowerofmtsilver]

Bulba's unease fed into Vinnie's, but it was his job to be the reassuring one right now. He had to believe what he was saying. He had to convince Bulba to believe it too.

"Of course I am." Sure, Vinnie did things that he still undoubtedly regretted, but he knew that giving their relationship a chance wasn't one of them. It was an absurd question. To illustrate that, he added, "Would you regret me?"

[rivalsolarbeam]

Bulba brushed the pad of his thumb across the crest of Vinnie's cheek, shaking his head against the bed. "No," was the quiet, firm reply. "I wouldn't."

[flowerofmtsilver]

"See?" Satisfied with having proven his point, Vinnie grinned and leaned down to peck Bulba affectionately on the cheek, as if to seal this unspoken agreement.

"If I had to choose, I'd do the same thing all over again. No matter what." He was sure of it. That was just the kind of person he was.

[rivalsolarbeam]

Of course. Vinnie wasn't the sort of Pokemon to change his decision on a do over. Should have expected that, really.

Instead, the simple statement set the younger saur ablaze. He felt the heat crawl from his chest up his neck, creeping all the way up to the roots of his hair as he curled in closer to press his scarlet face into Vinnie's shoulder. He couldn't tell how much of him was happy and how much was ashamed about it, since the two feelings had been walking hand in hand for months now.

But as long as those words could stay true, Bulba wanted to be there with him.

Bulba moved his hand, deftly hooking it around Vinnie's broader frame in a tight half-hug. "Okay," he muffled into his shoulder.