(Untitled)

[ostro_goth]

Teja is by the fireplace, eschewing the sunlight; he has his harp and plays a soft, sad melody, his fingers moving as if on their own while he gazes into the fire and thinks.

Oh, and he has much to think of, and to feel pain for!

Not only has Asher returned, and been hurt so deeply, mere minutes from his entrance, when Teja told him, straight

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[licensed_pro]

He'd heard months ago to watch out for Teja around midsummer. So here he is, leaning against the back of Teja's chair, listening.

"Teja. Tell me what's wrong, sweetheart." He very rarely uses any nicknames with Teja, but right now seems as good as any time to start.

[ostro_goth]

"Asher came back."

Pause.

"I told him about you right away, and that my heart is now yours alone; it pained him greatly. He looked as if I had broken his soul."

Pause.

"And the tarot cards keep dragging dark dank memories and thoughts out, as to make sure I not only will not forget them, but ponder them often, and with pain."

[licensed_pro]

"It's alright." He leans over to kiss Teja's cheek gently, brushing his hair away with his fingertips.

"I'm sorry that happened, all of it. If I see Ruin or Asher I'll talk to them."

[ostro_goth]

"My beloved," Teja says, softly. "Ever as ready to stand up for me, as I for him!"

Pause.

"And no, I mean that not in a physical sense now."

He smiles a little, and kisses Charlie's cheek, also.

"I fear those are paradoxes I must ever hold fast within my own heart; there is no resolution, only choice. And my choice: - are you!"

[licensed_pro]

Charlie returns the smile, and moves around to sit next to Teja, close enough to lean his head against a shoulder.

"I didn't guess you were joking, right now. Did Asher returning surprise you?" There was a moment when he heard that that Charlie was prepared to let it go, and acquiesce to Asher having been there before he was. He can't do that now.

[ostro_goth]

Teja touches his cheeks to Charlie's hair, just to feel he was there.

"It was a great, painful surprise," he says. "I had not expected him back, ever; and now he was there, and all I had to do was tell him, as fast as I could, as not to let him linger in cruel hope, and a joy of seeing me that I had to dash utterly. It pained me deeply to hurt one I had loved once; it pained as much to know that I had been the traitor, the one guilty at this point."

Pause.

"It had been eight months to me, but mere days to him!"

[licensed_pro]

Charlie sighs with him, and lets Teja do what he wants. "I'm sorry," he says. It's all he really can say.

"When he's had some time we can both go and explain what happened. And maybe he'll believe us."

[ostro_goth]

"We can," Teja says. "But not to justify what I did, or to try and make him hurt less: - we cannot do that! His pain was my doing; and yet, I would not do differently than I have done, because you are the one I love."

Pause.

"But we can go, and face him, and let him have his say. Healed, he may be only by time, or the love of another."

[licensed_pro]

"We can, and I will. Whether or not you choose to go with me," Charlie says firmly.

[ostro_goth]

"Oh, I will," Teja says. "I owe him, at least, to face him so I may feel the force of his anger, once that wins over pain and dejection!"

[licensed_pro]

"If he wasn't angry at you before, he likely won't be when you talk to him next," he says. "You've got to stop assuming people are going to react that way."

[ostro_goth]

"I might be hoping that he will be angry," Teja admits.

[licensed_pro]

"Why?"

[ostro_goth]

"Because it would mean he is not grieving, and pining for my love that he so cruelly lost," Teja says. "That would be worse: - I have no comfort to offer, even though I would wish to give it. I know not what! The one thing that would comfort him, I will not give ever again!"

[licensed_pro]

"You can tell him what happened, and that will be comfort enough," Charlie says, eyeing Teja evenly.

"If you don't want to, then I'll tell my part and see what else I can do."

[ostro_goth]

"I'll tell him truthfully whatever he wishes to know about," Teja says. "But it might feel as if I was turning the knife in the wound, again and again, if I tell him how I met you, and how we slowly fell in love, and how much you mean to me, and all we already went through together."