Open Post // Overflow

[undyingflames]

 

Feel free to hit me up with anything!!  I'm honestly always down for anything ₍՞◌′ᵕ‵ू◌₎♡
I've finished the game so spoilers are totally fine, though be careful looking in here if you haven't beaten it yet!

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((Sorry again! But finally!))

[shieldoffire]

Clive reaches over, pushing up at the corners of Joshua's mouth to make that smile less melancholy. "You've done more than that. You've kept up the ideals he taught you while being your own man. He would have loved that - and you for it."

The touch is meant as a silly thing, but the warmth of Joshua's skin still leaves an imprint on Clive's fingers, makes him look down and swallow, pretending to focus on the missives instead of the warm softness of skin beneath his fingers. "You never have to be concerned with meeting my standards. You've always exceeded them. If anything, I'd like if you took more breaks - rested more."

Joshua had never been lesser than Clive, or less deserving of the Phoenix. His frailer health had always been another burden to carry, and one Clive could see the strength Joshua took to bear it. That opinion had never wavered. Clive sees in Joshua all that would make a wise ruler - his kindness above all. He'd seen the strength it took to live with Joshua's gifts and burdens.

"There is no calming those minds," Clive says, faux-darkly, taking the change in topic as offered, ignoring the tingle of his fingers. "But you're welcome to try."

"It will wane slower if you do as Lady Tarja urges. Just ... know there is no shame in taking that rest. When this is all done, we have many days to look forward to still. I wouldn't want you to focus so hard on what is in front of us that you don't think to save some of your heart for what can come after."

absolutely no worries!! welcome back!! ♡(.◜ω◝.)♡

[undyingflames]

Joshua blinks at first when Clive reaches over to touch his face, poking and pushing at the corners of his mouth to encourage a brighter smile, pulling him out of the self conscious thoughts that had creeped into his mind, and then, he laughs. Gentle, soft and quiet as his laughs usually are, ducking his head a bit, but there's a certain heartiness to this one in a way he probably hasn't laughed in eighteen years.

It's a silly, playful gesture, true, which Clive's done twice now to cheer him up, but it's no less comforting, no less reassuring in the way only Clive's ever done for him in all the time's he's been there for him, to help ease the burdens and insecurities from his shoulders that he might breathe, think clearly. And he believes him... that he's become a man his father truly would be proud of... and Clive.

And as the touch lingers for the briefest moment, Joshua almost yearns to keep that comfort, that contact, just as before, and wishes to reach up and hold his hands there, to urge his fingers that he might cup his face instead so Joshua could feel the warmth and comfort of his palms against his cheeks and lean into them. Like at Twinside. But... he doesn't. And Clive pulls away.

"Thank you, Brother." Still, he smiles, truer and brighter now.

But the moment feels all too short. Wherein Clive finds himself grateful for the change of subject, Joshua doesn't as he feels his heart break deep in his chest, as Clive speaks of looking forward to the days ahead of them... of a future that doesn't exist for him... He doesn't know if Clive truly doesn't see it... or simply refuses to, but it fills him with a guilt, a sorrow that weighs down on his heart like an anchor.

But... he tries, just as Clive's always offered him reassurances, Joshua does the same. Not having the heart to tell him otherwise. His voice and smile softening a bit again but not enough to betray the sadness he feels.

"I know... I do not deny I have had little chance to think of what is to come after." There's a small pause as he places the missive in his hand to the side and looks up, finding a new focus in his brother, is expression almost bashful as he asks; "Perhaps, then... we should begin thinking of what it is that we might do? For when such a day comes."

It's terribly dangerous, cruel and sad, to think like this. To allow himself a moment to hope, to dream of a future that he might be able to spend at his brother's side when his fate is all but carved into the very stone that sits in his chest. He could tell himself that this is for Clive, to offer his brother the same reassurances he always does, to help him keep going to do what he must without grieving over his brother whom he just got back.

But he knows, there's a part of him that wants to have this moment too, to believe.