Watery or not, making Wei Ying laugh still feels like a more meaningful accomplishment than any successfully completed sword form or musical composition. A moment of quiet pride and pure affection warms him entirely, accompanied by incredulous, directionless gratitude at such a thing being possible once more.
Though it pains him to do so, though he would happily remain like this until they've both grown old and grey, for Wei Ying's sake he allows him to withdraw his hands, thumbs brushing over his fingers as they slip out of his own. Noticing the tears clinging to his eyelashes is only alarming for a moment, before he realizes this is nothing like the last time he saw tears on Wei Ying's face. No red-rimmed eyes in a gaunt pale face, so much like a walking corpse already, no anguished grimace that nobody else even seemed to see; these tears seem cleaner somehow, a relief in his shaky smile, like something freed that was stuck. Only now does he wholeheartedly believe that Wei Ying is glad to be back. He drinks in the sight like it can replace that other, horrible memory that's been haunting his nightmares, if he just never loses sight of him again.
Wei Ying's teasing is certainly in the spirit of his own, but it also has another effect. An unexpected sense of comfort entirely unrelated to his resurrection; how good it is to have someone here who knows his principles, his home. How good to have someone in this world who knows him. His answering smile is comfortable and warm and almost sheepish, as if caught out by Wei Ying, and it is above all content.
And there it is again, tomorrow. Even before that day in Nightless City, it had been so long since they'd had more than a few hours to spend together. Years, since a tomorrow together had been any kind of certainty, something he didn't have to fight everyone including Wei Ying for. Then, it had become a desolate impossibility. And now? Now, what is going to stop them? Now, that Wei Ying is here and offering him a tomorrow of his own volition?
So there is no hesitation before he nods his agreement to the suggestion, to his offer. "Tomorrow," he echoes, tender and assured and grateful in equal measure.
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Though it pains him to do so, though he would happily remain like this until they've both grown old and grey, for Wei Ying's sake he allows him to withdraw his hands, thumbs brushing over his fingers as they slip out of his own. Noticing the tears clinging to his eyelashes is only alarming for a moment, before he realizes this is nothing like the last time he saw tears on Wei Ying's face. No red-rimmed eyes in a gaunt pale face, so much like a walking corpse already, no anguished grimace that nobody else even seemed to see; these tears seem cleaner somehow, a relief in his shaky smile, like something freed that was stuck. Only now does he wholeheartedly believe that Wei Ying is glad to be back. He drinks in the sight like it can replace that other, horrible memory that's been haunting his nightmares, if he just never loses sight of him again.
Wei Ying's teasing is certainly in the spirit of his own, but it also has another effect. An unexpected sense of comfort entirely unrelated to his resurrection; how good it is to have someone here who knows his principles, his home. How good to have someone in this world who knows him. His answering smile is comfortable and warm and almost sheepish, as if caught out by Wei Ying, and it is above all content.
And there it is again, tomorrow. Even before that day in Nightless City, it had been so long since they'd had more than a few hours to spend together. Years, since a tomorrow together had been any kind of certainty, something he didn't have to fight everyone including Wei Ying for. Then, it had become a desolate impossibility. And now? Now, what is going to stop them? Now, that Wei Ying is here and offering him a tomorrow of his own volition?
So there is no hesitation before he nods his agreement to the suggestion, to his offer. "Tomorrow," he echoes, tender and assured and grateful in equal measure.