drear | your quiet eyes, your mouth that never tells lies.

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your quiet eyes, your mouth that never tells lies.

[ after school, it hadn't been that hard to leave the country. he was a legal adult, after all, and einsturzen's education wasn't all for nothing. speaking different languages is helpful when you're on the move. eventually, heine had found that being able to handle a gun is useful on a whole other level.

he's back on a visit from the darker sides of europe, somewhat more scarred, a little harder around the edges. but the red string that had showed up when he came of age was pulling, more tightly and more insistently than before. heine had been able to ignore it for years (longer than most), but when it was more of a distraction than he could afford, he'd gone to follow it...

...all the way back to his hometown. expecting the string to lead him away, and just inside the borders, he hasn't told anyone he's back, but he's not exactly hiding, either. ]

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[Her string had shown up the day she had turned eighteen. She had woken up and seen it, and her heart had started to race. She had immediately tried to follow it, but it had just led her towards the edge of town and she imagined to the ocean. Great. Her soulmate was overseas.

Well, maybe she'd get lucky.

Her daily life wasn't interrupted by it all that much. She occasionally wondered, but tried not to let it get to her. She had Heine to worry about, after all. He was gone, and she missed him so badly. She was in her second year of college, had been able to deal with the slight tugging from the string without much stress. She would get to it eventually, after she graduated and was able to leave. Hopefully. She knew she couldn't just let it sit forever. Nill sighed to herself as she looked down at it once more; she could feel it straining again. She sat alone in her apartment, her roommate gone for the weekend. In her pajamas already, wondering who the string was attached to and if she'd ever get to meet them.]

[ the string is pulling more urgently, stretching off into the distance with an occasional flicker of movement. frowning slightly, heine trails it for a few more minutes. he's beginning to recognize the buildings around him, and soon he's looking more at the streets than at the thread.

finally, it leads to the door of an apartment. squinting at the various buzzers, heine looks them over carefully, trying to read the blurry names and numbers. after a few more moments of consideration, the thread yanks his finger, hard, at one of the buttons. it's not labeled, but he can tell that it's the one.

(sometimes, he thinks, this soulmate business is really too convenient.)

he presses the buzzer, once, and waits. ]

[She doesn't have any work to do--she's the kind of student who gets everything done just early enough so she has time to relax before it's due. She's considering a bubble bath. It'd be nice to soak in the tub for half an hour or so. But the jarring ring of the bell makes her jump. She doesn't notice the tugging on her own end of the string, she's so startled.

Nill stares at the control panel bolted to the wall for a second. Well, maybe someone had gotten locked out.

Huffing lowly, she stands from the couch and trots towards the panel. She takes a moment to find the right button and then pushes it, holding for a couple moments before releasing. That should be enough, right?]

[ heine would be so proud. he was never a very good student, but knowing that nill is... it's better than thinking about himself.

after the door is unlocked, heine goes in, taking the stairs instead of the elevator. he wouldn't want to miss the floor, after all. after a minute or two of slow climbing, occasionally stopping to check that the thread isn't pulling him backwards, he finds a landing where the thread tugs him inexorably towards the door.

he follows it down the hall, looking at each door number with mounting emotion. unsure of what the feeling is, though, heine moves more slowly the harder the string pulls. the red strings of fate are explained early on, and even though sometimes they prove unsuitable in the end, they're rarely completely wrong.

and yet, that certainty is why heine is slow to knock on the door. he isn't one to worry, most of the time, but there are concerns that he hadn't considered before.

well. best to just do it now. his knuckles hit the door twice. ]

[Nill does not expect the knock. She's already half undressed and running the tub for a bath. She sits bolt upright from where she's kneeling beside the tub, head snapping towards the front door.

Who--?

Okay, whoever she had let in had obviously wanted her for something. This is weird. Maybe it's her roommate, maybe she forgot something? She has no idea. Nill pulls her oversized shirt on over her shorts, hoping that this will be quick. She turns off the tap and pads barefoot towards the entrance, running a hand through her hair on the way. Her thread gives a hard tug and she wonders for just a moment before she opens the door.

All she can do is stare.

Heine.

The smile that breaks over her face is instantaneous and genuine. Heine! Her wings flutter happily behind her back and she tries (and fails) not to topple into him as she goes for a hug. She doesn't notice how strong the pull on her string is, doesn't care. All that matters is him and that he's there.]

[ as the door opens, Heine isn't sure what to expect. in the delay between the knock and when someone comes to let him in, he glances around, unsure of what do to do with himself.

and then it's Nill who opens the door, and things become, abruptly, very simple. she hugs him, taller and stronger than she used to be — it's instinct to put his arms around her so she doesn't fall. ]

Nill —!

[ that was quite a lot of momentum. Heine stumbles slightly backwards, before steadying them both against the opposite wall of the corridor. ]

Nill, you... [ ...live here? he looks back down at his hand. the thread is humming, vibrating every few seconds as it becomes clearer and clearer. ]

[Oh, she hasn't meant to push him back so far. She almost feels bad, but his arms are around her and none of it matters. Heine is back. She wants so badly to ask him how he is, but knows she can't. And it isn't that hard to settle for just his embrace. Her wings are trembling a bit; she can't really contain her excitement, her relief.

She hasn't noticed the thread yet, is too focused on tilting her head back and looking up at him, inspecting. She hasn't pulled away, doesn't plan to quite yet. She can't stop grinning. It was a shock, how much she hadn't realized she'd missed him until he'd come back. He looked older, well-traveled.

One small hand detaches from the cloth of his chest to reach for his face, gentle, but not hesitant. That's when she sees the string, sees how scarlet it's turned and how solid-looking. Blue eyes lock on it for a moment, and she starts to follow its path, but she... already knows where it'll lead.

Oh.

She's too caught off guard to blush.]

[ Heine opens his mouth, prepared to ask the usual how are you, what have i missed, but at the moment it doesn't seem quite right.

instead, he moves his arms to go more comfortably around her shoulders for a just a moment before she detaches to look at him more carefully. ]

I... I missed you.

[ more than he thought or knew he did, if he factors in the red string. but his smile is real and gentle. ]

Can we go inside?

[Her heart leaps for a moment and she feels silly. This is Heine. The string--well, it meant a lot. But maybe nothing they didn't already know.

Everything has been made so much more complicated in the last eight seconds. Or--simpler. She can't tell yet.

Her hand has already brushed lightly across his cheek when he asks to enter the apartment. Her arm drops after a slight hesitation beside his face and she nods, grasping his sleeve. Yes, of course he can come inside. Her wings ruffle behind her and she starts to step backwards, tugging him with her. She isn't sure she wants to take her eyes off him yet. Her heart still can't settle on a rhythm.]

[ he lets her have more contact with him than almost anybody else, and the brief touch makes him relax rather than tense. trailing after her into the apartment, he only turns around to shut the door behind them. ]

I didn't know it was you. [ the first thing he says isn't meant to be an excuse, but it comes out sounding a little like that, anyway. ] I would have come back sooner, but...

[ but he's kind of been working his way into the world of organized crime. oops. ]

How's college? Your classes? [ ... ] Do you have a roommate?

[ he isn't mentioning the string just yet — he can't quite bring himself to talk about it. ]

[Thankfully, the apartment is relatively clean. Only a few dishes in the sink, some clean laundry folded and piled on the couch. Nill immediately moves to gather them in her arms and shove them into the empty basket even as he speaks. There is now room for two on the couch, but she doesn't sit. She instead busies herself with rearranging other things, clearly not ignoring him, but--not wanting to think about the thread tugging her towards him at every turn.

I didn't know it was you.

She isn't sure how to take it. She'd been waiting for him for one reason, but had ended up getting a second without even trying.

So she just nods idly at his questions until the one about the roommate. Then she pauses and nods. Luckily she is near the calendar hung on the wall so she can point to today's date and the four days following it and shake her head. Not for these days she doesn't.]

[ he sits down on the couch once she clears it, unbuttoning his coat but not taking it off. underneath it, he's wearing a suit of a cut and material that he wouldn't have been caught dead in five years ago. (well, maybe dead, considering his mother.) ]

Oh.

[ Heine scratches the back of his neck, unsure of how to proceed. relationships have really never been his forte, even with Nill. ]

I didn't think that I'd find... this. [ he means the other end of the thread, while he waves it around a little to demonstrate his meaning. ] So I might... have to stay for a while.

[When she turns back to him, her eyes linger a little longer than probably necessary. Wow. Heine in a suit. She never could have imagined it. What happened to the chains and the high collars? Not that she minds--he looks good.

Nill catches herself thinking that and has to turn away. She doesn't want him to see her blush yet.

In spite of herself, Nill's heart leaps. She wants him to stay. She wants him to tell her what he's been doing for the past few years, what made him finally come back. She wants him to tell her everything. Maybe because she can't exactly do the same. She thinks she's gotten control of her face and makes her way towards the couch to settle beside him delicately, hardly making an indent on the couch. The thread hums and she holds up her and so she can look down at it instead of at his face. If she does she thinks she'll blush again. Nill nods, smiling. Of course he can stay.]

[ it's a professional-image thing, really. they're more comfortable than he'd been led to believe, especially because he cared enough to get his tailored.

Heine looks at her while she moves around, eyes tracking her movements. he isn't sure if he's being nostalgic or just recognizing her as she is now, because he hasn't seen her in so long. either way, he can tell that she's different. ]

Thanks.

[ he pauses, shifts slightly so that he can face her more directly. ]

I don't even know what you're studying right now. [ he's talking a little bit to himself. it's embarrassing, actually, that he doesn't know, and he feels bad about it. ]

[She knows he's watching her, inspecting her, and she finally understands what people mean when they say they feel like they're naked and being examined with a magnifying glass. It isn't entirely comfortable, but she isn't completely bothered by it, because this is Heine. Her friend, her--

Nill looks up from the string, because she doesn't know how to finish that thought yet.

A smile does work its way to her lips though. She leans forward, reaching under the coffee table to pull out a stack of books. They're all about social work and child psychology and such.]

[ he pulls a few of the books towards him so he can read the covers and titles. they're not topics that interest him, but he can easily imagine Nill studying them. ]

Do you like it?

[ he wants, more than anything, for her to be happy. (Heine has spent his years in Europe destroying others and himself.)

flipping open one of the textbooks idly, he pages through it, reading some of the text. ]

[She doesn't read over his shoulder. She already knows these books, cover to cover. Nill doesn't go out much--it's hard to be social when you can only communicate via text messages and sign language. She didn't want to give out her number for the former and few people knew the latter. It was just easier to stay in (even if her roommate gave her a lot of flak for it).

Her nod is immediate. She does, really. She's always wanted to be able to help people, and, well, children seemed the most logical place to start. Without even thinking, she scoots a little closer to him so she can let her head rest on his shoulder. The thread catches her eye again and she turns pink again, but hopes he's too invested in the texts to notice.]

[ it's a callback to the academia that he left behind what seems like a very long time ago. now, most of his time is taken up by his job. ]

That's good.

[ especially because it's a calling that is good, not only good for her. he turns the page just as Nill leans against him, and goes still on instinct.

he relaxes quickly, though, and shifts so that she can rest her head more comfortably. she's closer than Heine lets anybody else get. ]

[She wonders, briefly, if she's done something wrong. But then he's moving, accommodating her, and her fears disappear. Nill's wings flutter along with her heart, and she settles in beside him with a little nod. Yes, it was good. It was good because she was doing something she saw as meaningful, and that was what mattered the most.

Her eyes flick up towards his face and she can't stop herself from gesturing to him. What had he been doing, is what she wants to know.]

Me? What've I been doing?

[ he looks away, not quite embarrassed but not wanting to share the exact nature of his occupation. ]

I have a job, so mostly that. It's...

[ well. it's hurting people. ]

...it's work. I'm good at it.

[Her wings rustle behind her. He's keeping something from her, that much is obvious. But--she doesn't want to pry. It was so easy for Heine to shut down once someone started to ask too many questions, and even with the thread connecting them now, Nill wasn't sure if she could be an exception.

It hurt a little. She shoved the feeling away.

Instead she smiles, looking up at him. Good, he was obviously taking care of himself, which was all that should matter to her. She lets out a relieved sigh, sinking back into the couch and putting slightly more weight on his shoulder.]

[ he smiles back, apologetically. he wants to tell her the truth, but he knows if he does that she'll feel most likely worse.

so instead, Heine stays silent. ]

I'll have to go back. Eventually.

[ he adjusts to her weight, and cautiously places his hand on top of hers. he doesn't know what to do, and while it's a change from what he's been doing, it's in some ways much better. ]

[Eventually is such an open word. It could mean in two days or two years. But--he's holding her hand, and she's going to take advantage of however much time she does have with him.

Nill nods, letting him know that she understands. Whatever he'd been doing, it probably took up a lot of his time. And she--well, she doesn't want to think about where she might or might not fit into his life. She turns her hand so she can lace her fingers with his.]

You probably wouldn't want to be there.

[ even though he wants, selfishly, for her to be there anyway. but he knows that it would be too dangerous and too risky for them both, so he'll have to settle for however much time he can spend here.

Heine slips his fingers between hers, and pulls her hand slightly closer. he wants to stay, but that's too selfish, too. ]

[He's wrong, she thinks. He'll be there, which means she does want to. She doesn't know what he does, recognizes on some level that whatever it is, it's probably dangerous and possibly not entirely legal--but he's Heine (her Heine now, she thinks, eyes finding the thread again, tracing its path to his hand). But if she knew, she'd tell him it was okay to be selfish. In a way, she's being selfish, too. Wanting to up and leave like this. She thinks so, anyway.

Nill doesn't know what else to do but smile at him, head tilted back slightly, trying to let him know that she would go if he'd just ask her.]

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your quiet eyes, your mouth that never tells lies.

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