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[noburden]

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[rosarianoath]

"Upstairs or downstairs?" he muses, reaching up to fasten the buttons for her.

[noburden]

"Our bedroom. Upstairs."

She rests a hand on his hip as she stays still as he buttons her up, looking up at him. It should have always been their bedroom.

"I've slept better these last few nights than I have since..." Since. Since he no longer shared her bed. She's sure having Joshua in the house has something to do with it too, one less worry, but she knows she only sleeps so soundly because Clive is with her.

[rosarianoath]

He doesn't meet her eyes, but he can't help but smile a little at the correction, sure that location was safer than saying yours or mine? and pleased to be wrong anyway. He fumbles a little on the buttons, but he's just pleased to linger close.

"I've slept well too," he says. "I worried my coming in late had disturbed you..."

[noburden]

"It's no disturbance to wake up to you crawling into bed with me," she tells him. "I fall asleep easily with you there."

In Clive's arms and with Joshua sleeping down the hall, what more could she want?

"You don't know the joy I feel when I wake up in the morning to the sight of your face."

[rosarianoath]

Clive meets her eyes briefly, suddenly embarrassed –– how does he rail this woman like a sex-starved beast and then listen to her praise him like this?

He finishes her shirt and lets his hands glide from her waist to her hips, feeling the absence of the seam of her underwear under her skirt.

"I would be the luckiest man alive to be allowed to sleep with you in my arms every night."

[noburden]

"Not only is it allowed, but it is encouraged," she teases. Forever? She hopes it to be, some day. With his hands on her hips, she cups his face, fingers stroking over his cheeks. She'd never think him a beast or brute.

"I think I'll buy the blue one for us." For good memories.

And the bikini bottoms have his cum on them. She's obligated.

[rosarianoath]

He closes his eyes briefly, calmed by getting his face pet.

“I like that plan,” he says. “But perhaps we buy the other one too, to soothe the discontent waiting on the other side of the door.”

[noburden]

"I think we were quiet," Jill points out. But she lets him go to gather up the bikinis in both colors. They'll get some sort of use.

"We should head home. I'd like to be there before Joshua returns."

[rosarianoath]

"Of course," he agrees, picking up the cup, the bags, the rest of it. He'll have to leave the door to her. "I hope he had a good day..."

[noburden]

Jill opens the door for Clive, but nor before peeking out to make sure they weren't about to wall into trouble. The shop is quiet beyond the music playing in the background.

"I'm sure he did. It's difficult to let him be so far from our sight, isn't it?" She adjusts her skirt. "I trust Dion with my life. I trust him with Joshua's as well. They'll stay out of trouble."

[rosarianoath]

“I think Dion will protect him,” Clive says, heading out. “I just don’t think his idea of protecting him is the same as mine.”

[noburden]

She glances at him before looking for the register.

"I asked him not to speak of Origin to Joshua."

[rosarianoath]

“Is he going to take that to heart?”

He’d rather not talk about it either, but that hasn’t kept it off Dion’s lips.

[noburden]

"He will," Jill says calmly. "He understands the situation as I've explained it."

That should be all he needs.

[rosarianoath]

Clive’s brow momentarily furrows, but he says nothing, not wanting to upset her with questions. He just leads her to the cash register, and sets down the empty cup so he can fish out his coin purse.

[noburden]

Jill picks up the cup just in case, and even tries to slip a few bags off his arm so he can pay without having to juggle everything.

The cashier scans each item and Jill does not look as the obviously wet bikini bottoms are quickly chucked into a bag. She's glad to be standing behind Clive.

[rosarianoath]

Clive stays stony-faced and calm through the transaction, less for any thought of Ultima and more from years of practice being mildly intimidating to ward off trouble. It works, more or less — the cashier notices and does not look thrilled as she picks up the bottoms by a tie. Clive just pockets his wallet and picks up the back, putting his hand out to take the rest back.

“Home, then.”

[noburden]

Instead of the bags or cup, Clive gets Jill's hand in his.

"I'm with you," she tells him with a small smile. "I know you'll talk to Joshua when the time I'd right."

[rosarianoath]

It’s oddly to hear her say it; he hadn’t thought she’d agree to that out of anything but obligation. He squeezes her hand.

“Thank you. That relieves me.”

[noburden]

It stings to hear the confirmation that this is news to him. She supposes she hasn't given him much reason to assume her loyalty. While she doesn't think he can take very long, she knows he needs time to figure out how to approach the conversation, and he has that as Joshua adjusts to the city.

"I want to support you. You're not alone."

[rosarianoath]

“I know I have you now,” he says, eyes ahead of them. It’s embarrassing to know he didn’t feel that way before, that he could think he was more trophy to her than man. Shame. He adds: “Together, we’ll make the best of this.”

[noburden]

It lifts her heart to heart him say the words, even if he may not believe them. He'll get there.

"We will. In the end... we'll be all right. I know we will."

[rosarianoath]

“We will.”

Outside the store, in the anonymous bustle of the mall, Clive pauses and turns to her, briefly stooping to plant a kiss on her lips, quick and sure. He has no free hand with which to cup her cheek or stroke her face, but he lingers after it breaks off, nose against hers. Then he’s serious again, eyes ahead.

“I promise.”

[noburden]

It's enough for her to feel that, for at least one moment, she has the Clive that hasn't been broken by Origin. She savors it as long as she can before it passes.

The walk home isn't very long, but as they exit the mall and head down the streets towards home, she breaks their comfortable silence. Something has been on her mind ever since Joshua came back into their lives. Perhaps even before Requiem.

"Do you realize that you're allowed to be happy, Clive?"

Once, he soothed her guilt for enjoying a day together and the simple pleasures of warm, fresh bread. But he often fails to apply the same kindness to himself. Especially now.

[rosarianoath]

Their bags swing at his side, and the breeze outside is crisp and warm and real compared to the recirculated air indoors. He listens to her question with a pit in his stomach and a tension in his joints that makes him want to run very far, very fast, and not look back. But he isn't a runner, not from questions he's asked himself before, and especially not from the woman he wants by his side.

He is quiet for a long moment, fingers still wound around hers.

"I want to feel as though I am. And I do, sometimes."