_{Story by [Linderel].}

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Benjamin sat on the pier, awkward limbs folded close to his torso. Moody gaze turned seaward, it took a while for him to notice the approaching footsteps. The other had been bound to find him eventually, he supposed. This had always been their private place after all.

'You're going to have to come back at some point, you know,' the other said, standing only a step or two behind him. 'You can't stay here forever.'

The young man had closed his eyes to listen to the low, soothing tones of the other's voice, but at this, he opened them and glanced askance over a hunched shoulder. Heh. Impeccable as always. He hummed, almost thoughtfully, and turned back to his seagazing. His reply was a whisper so quiet that he wasn't even sure if he had uttered it. The sharp inhalation from behind told him that he had.

'Can't I?' he had asked, like so many times in the past few months. He had either annoyed or unsettled the other. Possibly both. He didn't really want to know - at this point, it didn't matter all that much. He took a deep breath.

'Can't we?' he asked now, body as tense as it had ever been but his voice significantly stronger.

'You know we... you know that I... cannot,' came the choked response.

Benjamin nodded. He had thought as much. A seagull cried somewhere in the distance, breaking the silence of the small cove. The sea was almost completely calm, and the young man desperately wished himself becoming one with the water. A hand on his back grounded him, however, and suddenly he felt like he was being suffocated, crushed by a world he wanted no part of. The other's strong arms embraced him from behind and for a moment, he clung to them with all his might.

'This is unfair,' he cried over the seagull's mockery and the quietly lapping waves.

'I know,' answered the other's rough, broken voice, and somehow, that was enough.

Benjamin gently disentangled them, stood up, and turned to look at his companion fully for the first time since morning. The chiseled features held an expression of anguish, the strong, lean body slumped in defeat. The young man smiled and stroked the other's brow with a shaking hand. He turned to look at the sea once more and laid down his next words, heavy with meaning.

'Three years. I'll be waiting for you here. Three years to the day, and damn anyone who would stop me.'

Another sharp intake of breath. Then, a shaky exhalation and the longest silence of his entire life. Finally, his slender hand was taken between two larger ones and kissed lightly.

The promise was made.

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