Victor didn’t say anything, he didn’t let it outwardly affect him when she didn’t tack on the ‘darling’ at the end of her sentence. He knew he couldn’t just expect her to go back to how things used to be. Wordlessly he went and changed into the dry set of clothes. As he tugged on the shirt he looked down and examined himself for the first time in a long time. There were new scars to add to his old ones and surely there would be new nightmares to add it his old ones as well now. Part of him wondered what he was thinking and if he should have come here at all. He should have just kept Summer out of it all, the last thing she probably needed right now was his sorry ass waltzing back into her life. Victor lay down on the bed, his hands tucked behind his head while he just stared at the ceiling, waiting for Summer to come back.
Just like that, standing in the doorway to her room, seeing him lie on the bed — tasting the renewed darkness inside him — just like that she was crying again. Not sobbing, but the hideous, silent, burning tears that welled up and overflowed, welled up and overflowed with every blink, spilled out from under closed eyelids. She hit the light switch, plunging the room into silvery darkness, and picked her way to the bed.
Somekitty hit the floor with a mrt and a thump, and she climbed into the warm spot left behind, turning her face into Victor’s shoulder and curling up against his body. He still smelled faintly of blood and pain, although she wasn’t sure if she was actually smelling that or if it was just empathic synaesthesia. Hesitantly, she lifted a hand, lightly brushing it over him until she touched his mouth, and left her fingers there, trembling slightly.
Victor stayed still, his muscles trembling under her fingers until her hand reached his mouth. He took her hand in his and pressed his cheek to her palm then turned to face her. Little butterfly kisses landed on her wrist, her palm and each of her fingers then before he pulled her in closer. “Gods did I miss you, an’ hell jus’ bein’ near you is heaven enough for me,” he whispered then kissed her forehead.
Summer didn’t expect to be able to sleep. She expected to be staring into the dark, throat tight and eyes hot, for hours; to jerk out of a fitful doze every hour or so. So she was surprised to open her eyes to chill winter dawnlight, still curled up against Victor.
For a few heartbeats she wasn’t actually sure she /was/ awake. There had been dreams almost exactly like this. She turned her head to look up at the ceiling, trying to find some way to know she was really awake, before deciding it didn’t matter. If she was going to dream this lucidly, she would enjoy it while it lasted.
So she edged herself closer to Victor, curling her fingers into his skin, and waited for him to wake up.