A small sigh as he slips out of bed, flickering eyelashes that make him freeze until the figure on the bed shifts and settles back to deeper sleep. The day had been long and they were both exhausted, but the dark-haired boy didn't want to sleep. He eyes rested on the figure half-covered by the sheets as he pulled on a pair of pants; his face was blank, but some unidentifiable emotion welled up behind his eyes.
"All I can do is promise to change my ways," he whispered as he turned away from the bed.
A sleepy mumble came from the bed, a hand flopping toward him, "Leave the lights on." the dark-haired boy paused in the doorway and seemed almost ready to turn back and return to bed. One hand was on the doorframe and the opposite foot cocked half in the air from freezing midstep.
Then he's slipping down the hallway as silently as a ghost.
As the front door closes with a quiet click the voice comes again. Much softer, but clear of any sleepiness. "You know I like to pretend you'll come back."
The moon is all but set, and the dark-haired boy sits on the edge of a bridge. His hair is longer, and he's grown several inches. His body is limp and the only sign he's still awake is the slight kicking of his feet against the outer edge of the bridge.
He tenses as he hears footsteps behind him, but doesn't turn to greet his visitor. Instead he speaks out over the river. "You used to say...that there's a time we all deserve to lose our minds." Nothing but the sound of crickets for several seconds, and then the bridge creaks as the person behind him shifts their weight from leg to leg. "So I lost my mind...now I'm ready to find my way."
"Come back home today," the visitor says softly. "To stay."
"The way you wish I was..." the dark-haired boy murmurs to the water below, voice unsure. He scoops a pebble from beside him and tosses it into the darkness. A small ploosh comes a few moments later.
"I swear to stay the way you wish I was."
The boy looks up to the sky. "I don't know if I'm gonna hafta redesign my mind." His eyes are ringed with dark circles and his mouth is in an almost-frown that speaks of too many hardships. Some of the light of the stars comes into his eyes when he looks up at them, though, even if it's a sad light of all-but-lost hope.
"Tonight I made a wish," the figure says, kneeling behind him. "And I sure hope that it comes true, cuz it's been too long without you," warm arms wrap around his shoulders. There's nothing but a the thin layer of a soft tank-top between them, but the boy can feel the strong heartbeat through it. "It's been too long. Come home and stay." The words alone should mean command, but sound more like a plea.
"Even though I left you far behind...there'd be reason to come back," he says after a moment. His hands slide up to cover the arms wrapped tight around his shoulders. "Even though I left you behind I always thought that you'd come here to find me." His hands grip the other pair tightly. "I don't know if I can wait this long to be what I used to be. I don't think I can wait much longer for the tide to come back to me." His eyes are squeezed shut and his voice is choked with emotion.
"Come back to me." An offer whispered into his ear. He can feel the wetness of a tear that accidentally fell to the bare skin at the base of his neck.
"Back home...today...to stay..." his face is screwed up with feelings he's killed for too long, as if he didn't realize he would still have a home here. "You're...you're the way I wish you were..." tears are spilling over his cheeks, even though he's biting his lip almost to blood to hold them back. "...The way I wish you were..." He buries his head in his arms and those wrapped around him, body shaking with quiet sobs. "...The way I wish you were..."
The other doesn't pull away or try to wrap their arms tighter around him, simply stays by his side. A hand slips up to smooth down dark spikes of hair, whispering through a soft, sad smile, "Come home today."