[Milliways]: Something REALLY new

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus pauses outside his door and turns to smile at Steve.

"Well? You've got the key."

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[golden_lyre]

Orpheus hums contentedly.

After a moment, he murmurs, "How do you do it?"

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Hm?" He plays idly with Orpheus's ear.

[golden_lyre]

"Deal with being away months at a time."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve is quiet a moment or two.

"I draw you a lot. Write you letters about my day. Think about you...fantasize...

"Most of all, I just believe I'll see you again, and hold onto that."

[golden_lyre]

"You write me letters?" Orpheus asks, pushing himself up a bit to look at Steve.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Diary entries, really," Steve says. "I just start them 'Dear Orpheus' and finish them, 'yours, Steve.'"

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus smiles at that, propping his head on his hand.

"You know," he says after a moment. "When I was young, I used to leave home for months at a time. Years at a time, even. But once I had...," his voice stutters a bit, "something to come home to...I never wanted to leave."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve strokes Orpheus's chest, a sympathetic look in his eyes.

"This room is the closest thing I have to home right now."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus rests his free hand over Steve's heart.

"I'm glad to be that," he whispers after a moment.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"You are?" He smiles a little. "I'm not spooking you?"

[golden_lyre]

"Maybe a little," Orpheus admits. "I haven't had as much time to get used to the idea as you have."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"I keep forgetting about that. I've known you over a year but you've only known me, what, a few months?"

[golden_lyre]

"Not even that, lovely," Orpheus says. "Not quite a month.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve blinks. "Holy cow."

He puts his hand over his mouth a moment. "So I've really been pushing you, haven't I? I'm so sorry--I thought--I didn't realize we were that out of sync."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus shakes his head. "It's all right. It isn't your fault."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve moves onto his back, still looking troubled.

"I met a fella a while back who read Tarot cards for me, and he said time is going to do weird things for me. I didn't realize it already was."

[golden_lyre]

"Time does weird things for all of us here," Orpheus points out. "Hell, I'm not even sure exactly how long it's been since we met. Might be a little longer."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"He said it stops for me, then starts up again."

[golden_lyre]

"So weirder for you than for the rest of us," Orpheus says quietly, frowning.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Yeah."

He idly brushes his fingers through Orpheus's hair.

"I have to wonder, now, what I'm rushing toward."

[golden_lyre]

"What do you mean?"

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Why time is moving for me like it is, what's waiting for me to get there.

"Every now and again I'm reminded my life is weird."

[golden_lyre]

"Ah. You feel like you're being rushed into something," Orpheus says, nodding.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve nods, then moves closer to Orpheus so he can tuck his head under Orpheus's chin. "As long as it doesn't take you away from me, I don't care what it is."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus curls his arms around Steve, stroking his fingers over his back.

Eventually, he murmurs, "If anything, I think it'd be the other way around."