Just a short piece about Matthew and Natalia. It's more a quick sketch than anything else. I hope you enjoy it nevertheless.
Disclaimer: I not own anything. Sadly. *sigh*
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She sleeps with him when the frustration grows too strong. She just sneaks into his lovely, wooden house
(Why wood, she asked him once, but he just smiled and shrugged. It's homely,he said and smiled almost sheepishly, standing there in the snow and looking as lost as she felt, sometimes, when there was not enough love to feed her heart.)
and slips into his bed. He wakes at once, she already knows, but after blinking groggily, he would smile at her and let her stay without a word, sharing his cold with her.
Sometimes that's all they do; sharing cold and dreams, fingers and limbs entwined in a strangely comforting way, while they sleep, her mind for once peaceful. She doesn't know how he does it; how he gives comfort without saying a word,just curving his lips upwards in a quiet, even smile forming in the corners of his mouth.
(Sometimes it's not the only thing they do. Those are the nights where even he feels lovely and seeks comfort in her ungracious body, mapping out every line and scar silently with his hands smooth from working with wood and animals, hands with long, strong fingers and carefully clipped fingernails.
It's a habit I took over from papá, I fear,he admitted one night and laughed almost like a ghost howling in the deep, dark forest. She watched him tracing invisible lines along her scarred body, kissing every single one of it, carefully, gently tucking a strand of her long hair behind her ear, looking her in the eyes and telling her You are beautiful,Natalia, don't let them tell you anything else. You're fine.
She didn't know what it was that made her believe his words in that moment. Maybe it was the fact that he, unlike his brash brother, was a builder, not a destroyer, made for healing, not for tearing.)
Stay, he sometimes says in the morning, in that quiet, almost lost voice which reminds her of torn velvet, but he just nods and lets her go when she refuses. She doesn't know why he bothers, but then he has the tendency to be too docile, only smiling whenever the person who raised him for so long forgets his name or when he is mistaken for his brother.
(Invisibility,he told her once,Can be a safety blanket, you know. I wonder what they would say if they knew that I am not as stable as they think.
He laughed after that, laughed like a ghost howling in the deep dark forest, and she considered telling him her builder-theory, but then she saw The Flicker in his bright, violet eyes and chose to stay silent.)
/
Maybe one day she will say yes, Matvej, I will stay and just take his hand.
Maybe it will help them both.