[Cute.]

[Cid does not vocalize this, he dares not ruin it.]

[Cid sucks on his teeth at the mere idea that Barnabas claims that he is not lonely. Whatever. That would be a stupid place for him to stop over when he’s got better things to fill his head with. He gazes down at that expectant stare.]

I think about your words, about uniting the Dominants. But I think about them each as men that I value and treasure, who offer me the opportunity to learn and grow, to shed light on thoughts that I’ve allowed to become stagnant and unchallenged.

[He draws his nails along Barnabas’ scalp, separating sections of hair and scratching lightly there.] But most of all, I think of us and what makes my heart feel full and happy. I think about what I crave when I’m left alone, and I don’t think that it’s all naive boyhood yearning.

There was a long time where there really was no hope of ever having this again, but doesn’t even the whisper, the chance of having it again not intoxicate you? It feels like nothing else. What if we let the past go? What if we rewrote our futures? Hell, I didn’t even have one until a few months ago.

[Cid pinches his lips between his teeth for a moment, reigning in his breathing.]

Nothing else feels like love, does it?