light_of_the_world: (e10)
Hild ([personal profile] light_of_the_world) wrote2015-09-12 11:01 pm

Next cometh Autumn with the sun so hot and piercing...

Back home, the court moved. Breguswith had explained it to Hild once, when she was a child and adamantly against such constant travel. She wanted to stay in a place long enough to learn its habits, to discover its secret places, to feel it with her whole skin. But as her mother pointed out, a king could not remain in one area for so long, not if he wished to keep his thegns in line with his powerful presence and keep his court from eating those thegns out of house and home. And so they had drifted from castle to castle, following the shifting seasons, keeping time with the different vills. Bebbanburg, Yeavering, Tinamutha, once, Brough, Sancton, Goodmanham, York.

But time did not need a changing landscape to move on. Hild found herself on the cusp of fall, without York, for the first time in more than a decade. Darrow did not have York's sweet apples or pears, nor its wars. It did have something called a pumpkin spice latte, however, which was almost as delicious as the overexcited barista had told Hild it would be. She had ordered two if only to calm the woman, but she had reasoned that anything that garnered such praise, mostly earnest, had to be passing good.

Balancing a tray of coffees and a few scones in one hand, Hild texted a few of her friends with the other, inviting them each to join her in the park, if they had the time. The first to arrive could have the spare latte. So she said. Hild had every intention of ensuring that each of her friends could share in the pumpkin spiced goodness.
youfeelluckypunk: (buffering)

[personal profile] youfeelluckypunk 2015-10-11 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Do the thing and do not waste time with the worry.

He has to bite back a smile at that, though he nods as his smile widens, genuine in its affection. "I will do the thing," he promises, "and I won't waste time." Reid thinks he's getting better at that as the days pass. He'd like to hope so, anyway. The day Luke had brought him flowers, they'd taken another step in their relationship and while they haven't been intimate with each other yet, the way his boyfriend had touched him that evening had been unlike anything Reid had experienced before.

Granted, it's been a long time since anyone has touched him like that, but he doesn't think it could possibly have been the same with anybody else. While he's never disrespected the opinion of those who believe in fate, Reid has never believed it himself. Only once has he truly questioned whether there could possibly be a higher power, when he'd died those few minutes after what Tobias Hankel (Raphael, rather) had done to him, and seen the supposed light at the end of the tunnel. He's remained steadfast in his commitment to science and rationality but now, faced with the intensity of his feelings for Luke and the knowledge that this meeting couldn't have happened in their separate worlds, he wonders if he's really just been waiting all this time for this man.

It's a fleeting thought, one he doesn't need an answer to because what matters is that he is with Luke. If there's a bigger reason as to why, Reid can live without knowing it.

When Hild says she hasn't seen a worse side of him, though, Reid lets out a burst of laughter. "No, not yet," Reid says, "and while I hope you're never subjected to any of my mood swings, they do exist." For the most part, he thinks he's good about keeping them under control but when he's under a great deal of stress, when he's trying to keep his head straight in the face of something that hits him hard on a personal level, it becomes more difficult. He's never been quite as good at that as Hotch or Gideon or even Emily.

After a second of hesitation, he gives Hild a nudge with his elbow. "For you, I think I can muster the will to try harder not to be a struggle."
youfeelluckypunk: (that presh face)

[personal profile] youfeelluckypunk 2015-10-15 07:48 am (UTC)(link)
"I think you might be right, if such duties really do exist. Though being with him seems to make me consistently happier so maybe having a boyfriend will do away with all the bad moods entirely." The chances of that are highly unlikely, which is why Reid says it with a twitch in his grin, but he's honest when he says he's happier now. Hild can see that, he suspects, because even though he wouldn't say he's ever been a particularly morose person and is generally in good spirits, even Reid can say about himself that he does smile more now.

He smiles more because he thinks of Luke often, whether it's about something they'd done or something Luke had said or something they might do later, just the thought of his boyfriend is enough to make his eyes glaze over with happiness. Some of the detectives at the department have already noticed this, poking fun at him when he checks his phone to find a text from Luke and insisting that they should all go out to the bar together one night. Though Reid had adamantly declined--

(not out of embarrassment and not even because he doesn't want to have to think of his next excuse for why he doesn't drink but because he wouldn't want to subject Luke to the teasing that would almost be a guarantee)

--it'd still pleased him to know that the people he works with here seem to be just as happy about seeing him happy as his team had back home.

"And I can't speak for anyone else but for me, there's something to be said about knowing with certainty that there will always be someone I can turn to at the end of the day. For Luke, I would drop everything to help him if that's what he needed, and I know he would do the same for me. It's comforting to have that kind of security." There's also the matter of what an excellent kisser he is but that's something he thinks is better left unspoken.